Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief
by Tobi Tortue
Summary: Daisuke enters a world of magic during the year of the Triwizard Tournament. Daisuke must try to stay ahead of magic Darker than the feather of the Phantom Thief, as Satoshi uncovers a dangerous plot involving the mysterious artwork, the Black Wings.
1. Chapter 1

Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief

Chapter 1

* * *

When Daisuke was looking for traps on his way out the door that morning, he didn't expect the owl. 

It was large, with big crossed yellow eyes, and slightly rumpled brown feathers. It looked slightly confused, but upon seeing Daisuke, it held out one long, black leg. Attached to aforementioned long, black leg was a letter.

After only a moment's hesitation, Daisuke took the letter. He carefully examined it for explosives, and finding none, opened it.

_Dear Mr. Daisuke Niwa,_

_We are proud to inform you of your acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is not our usual policy to accept wizards from outside jolly England, but we felt that your unusual circumstances warranted an invitation to our school. Enclosed is your list for books and supplies necessary for First Year students. Please board the Hogwarts Express at King's Cross Station, Platform 9 and 3/4 on September 1st._

_Albus Dumbledore_

_Headmaster_

Daisuke looked the letter over again, read through the strange list of supplies, briefly wondered where King's Cross Station was, and then noticed that the letter was dated three years ago. He wondered if the offer still stood.

"Mom!" he called, running back inside. Azumano Jr. High could wait until the mystery was solved.

"Yes, dear?" she answered, hurrying up from the basement in a black robe. "Dai, you should be heading to school now."

Daisuke looked at the letter and held it up. "I think I should have been going to school three years ago. Maybe."

Emiko looked puzzled, but she rolled up her long sleeves and took the letter from Daisuke. The fourteen-year-old stood in silence, waiting.

She took one look at letter and shrieked, startling her son. "Oh, Daisuke! You got in! I always knew you had it in you!"

"Wait, you know something about this?" Of all reactions, this was not one that he expected.

"I didn't tell you before because I knew it'd break your heart if you didn't get in when all of your ancestors back even before Dark have gone there!" Tears welled up in her eyes as she beamed at Daisuke with all the maternal love she could muster.

"What's all this racket about?" Daisuke's grandfather appeared, also in a black robe. "Eh? What's that?" He gestured towards the letter.

Emiko held it out to him and he held it at arm's length so he could read it. "Great Scott!" he cried. "This is an acceptance letter to Hogwarts!" He paused and then added in concern, "But it should have come ages ago..."

"Well, it was attached to an owl, so anything could have happened to it. it probably fell out of a mail truck or something," Daisuke explained. He pointed outside to where the owl had been. "The owl was right out there." Daisuke peered out the window. "In fact, it's _still_ there."

"Oh, nonsense! Owls are wonderfully reliable creatures," Emiko responded, ignoring the last part and Daisuke's uncertain tone that went with it. "They only get lost if they have a strong memory charm placed on them."

"What's a memory charm?" Daisuke asked, clueless. He imagined something that might go on a cell phone but was instead attached to an owl.

"Oh, there's so much for you to learn!" his mother said fondly. She started humming something bouncy and dancing around the room.

Daisuke could only hope this learning was less dangerous than learning to be a phantom thief.

* * *

This was far too much fun to write. If people review and like it, I'll do another chapter. 


	2. Chapter 2

Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief

* * *

Chapter 2

* * *

"So, where am I supposed to find platform nine and three quarters?" Daisuke asked the empty air. Trust it to his lousy memory to get himself sent to some boorish part of England...

Because Daisuke was in England. London, to be exact. At King's Cross Station, looking for the correct platform, but failing to remember what his mother had cheerfully said about it. It should be right between nine and ten, or, actually, closer to ten than nine, but still between them. The poor 14-year-old sighed, and sat down on his suitcase.

"Wiz, this seems pointless. Why didn't mom get me a cell phone?" He didn't even have any English currency, whatever it was. His mother had sent him off with some strange coins that looked nothing like euros and had funny names to boot. Nuts and popsicles and gallons... She had warned him that they weren't to be used in front of "normal people", who she now constantly referred to as "Muggles."

Wiz did not answer Daisuke, except to breathe a soft "kyuuu" in sympathy. The white rabbit promptly went back to sleep and let Daisuke deal with their problems.

Not for the first time, Daisuke wished Dark were still with him. The daring phantom thief would know what to do in a situation like this. Or he at least would not have forgotten what to do.

As Daisuke pondered his increasingly depressing situation, he noticed a group of people heading towards the space between the two platforms. And with these people were owls. And although Daisuke had just stepped into the wizarding world, he knew that a group of people with more than one owl could only mean two things:

1. an owl convention

2. wizards

Therefore, Daisuke decided to do as they do. An owl convention was better than sitting at the train station (though not by far).

He stood up, brushed a hand through his red hair, and picked up Wiz's cage with his left hand and his suitcase with his right. Pulling most of his thieving skills to the forefront, Daisuke tailed them without being seen. Daisuke was convinced it was just one large family, the way one woman kept telling all the children what to do in the voice that only mothers have. The woman shooed the children towards one of the brick pillars between the platforms, and a group of Japanese tourists walked by, obscuring Daisuke's view.

When his line of sight was clear again, two of the boys were missing. The littlest one, a girl, complained loudly as she turned her cart to face the pillar. Daisuke sneaked closer, determined to figure out the secret of Platform 9 and ¾.

The girl rolled her eyes at her mother, and with a toss of her hair walked into the brick wall.

Daisuke blinked. There was no crash, no yelp of pain, no sound at all. The girl had just gone into the wall. And he meant _into._

Well, if that was all it took, Daisuke was sure he could handle it. After all, if you've spent a good deal of time inside a painting, a brick pillar might seem quite roomy. He watched the rest of the children file through, and when he didn't see them make any funny gestures or say any magic words, he decided it required none.

But, just as insurance, Daisuke walked quickly to the wall as the parents turned around.

"Er, excuse me," he said to the parents. It was at the very least a good opportunity to practice English. Fortunately, German and English shared the same roots and Daisuke had always managed to do well in class. Both parents looked down at him, surprised. Actually, the woman wasn't very tall, so it was more like looking across.

"What do you need?" she asked good-naturedly.

"Is this Platform 9 and ¾?" Daisuke asked, gesturing vaguely to the bricks.

"Oh, is this your first time?" The woman gave Daisuke a warm smile. The boy was unsure as to how to respond, and he probably looked that way. The woman continued. "You're looking for the Hogwarts Express, right?"

Spiky, red hair bobbed up and down.

"Just head straight for that wall and keep walking," she told him. "And good luck!"

"Thank you," Daisuke said. He turned to wall and began walking. It was a little disconcerting, because the wall did not begin to glow, or to change, and it looked a lot like he was going to run into a brick wall.

But Daisuke kept faith, and without any obvious magical happenings like strange light or eerie noises, he found himself suddenly standing in another station. In front of him was a bright red train with the words "Hogwarts Express" across the side in gold lettering. Children of jr. high and high school ages were stepping aboard and leaning out the windows, waving to their friends. Many were wearing long black robes that reminded Daisuke of his mother and grandfather when they did weird things in the basement. Could it be that his family wasn't so strange after all?

With a sigh, Daisuke boarded the train and walked down the aisle until he found an empty compartment. He put Wiz's cage on a seat and then looked out the window. There were only trees and hills on the other side of the station. He shrugged and sat down next to Wiz.

"I'm sorry I can't let you out, Wiz. Animals are supposed to be in cages and stuff aboard planes and trains. It's been a long day for you, huh," he told the rabbit reassuringly. Wiz gave him a pathetic moan in response. Daisuke really felt sorry for his little friend.

He looked up as a few laughing students passed the doorway, and then back at Wiz. "At least I've got you here, Wiz," he said, feeling lonely. He didn't know anyone else on the train, and all of the people he would laugh with were far away in Germany, going to school at Azumano. He wondered if they missed him.

With that thought in mind, Daisuke reached for his bag and pulled a small envelope out from one of the outside pockets. "To Daisuke," it read.

Smiling, the boy opened the letter (it hadn't been sealed and he had already read it anyway) and began to read.

_Dear Daisuke,_

_I hope that you have fun at your new school. You can do it! You should make some friends and do well in your classes. When you get back, you have to teach me all the cool English that you learn! I'll be waiting for you. So don't even think of liking another girl! I'll be here when you come back for the summer. And then we can tell each other all the stuff that we won't get to say in our letters. But I promise to write you every week, and you can write back to me. Take good care of Wiz! (He's so cute!) I'll miss you, Daisuke Niwa._

_Love,_

_Riku Harada_

_ps. Risa says that she'll miss you too, but that's probably because she wants someone to help her with her homework._

Daisuke smiled as he read Riku's words for probably the twelfth time. The bottom of the letter had hearts all over it, as well as a funny little drawing that was probably Wiz because of the speech bubble that said "kyuuu!".

"Excuse me," a voice asked from the doorway. Daisuke looked up in surprise, quickly folding the love letter and replacing it in its envelope.

A girl was standing in the doorway, and Daisuke immediately recognized her as the one he had seen run into the brick wall. She seemed to be about his own age, or perhaps a little younger. She had a confident yet fun air about her, which reminded Daisuke of Riku. But whereas Riku also seemed to have an aspect of maturity, this girl did not.

"Yes?" Daisuke responded just a moment too late, his brain trying vainly to switch quickly into English mode.

"Is any of this space taken?" she asked flippantly. He shook his head. She then gave Daisuke a closer look. "Are you a first-year student? I've never seen you before." She continued peering at him as she sat down across from him and Wiz.

"I'm a transfer student," Daisuke explained. "This will be my..." Daisuke paused, trying to remember which year he was going to be in. Then he remembered it should match his age, somewhat. "Fourth...year."

"Really?" The girl looked surprised, and very curious. "I've never heard of Hogwarts getting a transfer student before."

This time Daisuke looked surprised. Didn't every school get new students from time to time? Did this mean that Daisuke was the only person who hadn't been there since first year?

The girl continued, oblivious to Daisuke's sudden discomfort. "So what school are you from?"

"Er, Azumano Jr. High." She looked confused. "It's in Germany," he added.

"So, what's it like there?" She leaned forward.

"Very...normal."

"What do you think of England?" she asked, beginning to hang on his every word.

"It's...nice." Daisuke didn't know how else to respond. He'd only been in the country for several hours, and had only seen the airport, a small portion of London from a bus, and the train station. He glanced out the window again, and wondered when the train would start moving.

"I've always wanted to go to Germany," the girl said wistfully. She paused as if listening to something. Suddenly she popped up. "I'll be right back!" she called as she raced out the door.

Daisuke sighed and looked at Wiz. "I can barely keep up with her," he complained. "She talks so fast!"

Wiz yawned, and then curled up to go to sleep. He opened one red eye to give Daisuke a last look, and then didn't move again. The sound of the train's whistle suddenly echoed around the train, and for some reason Daisuke smiled. The car lurched forward, then began to slowly move forward.

Daisuke peered out the window, and saw nothing but forested hills and the curve of the tracks ahead. The air was crisp and only a little damp.

It was a new adventure, he decided. It was different from his last one, but it was no less exciting. Around that curve ahead, he would find new faces to recognize, new lessons to be learned, and new obstacles to overcome. It might be difficult, but he would give it his best, and for some reason, he knew that it would be enough.

Only a small part of him remembered and was saddened that Dark was not here to share it with him.

* * *

Please review and tell me what you think!

(This chapter's for you, Caitlin!)


	3. Chapter 3

Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief

Chapter 3

* * *

The train continued on through the wet, green valleys of England, and Daisuke, although excited about his new adventure, was getting tired. The girl had failed to reappear, and Wiz had fallen asleep long ago. Occasionally, boys and girls would rush by the door, but no one gave Daisuke more than a passing glance.

Daisuke leaned back against his seat. Perhaps he might as well sneak in a nap before he arrived at his new school. Maybe he would be up late, meeting his new friends.

Or maybe not.

Either way, the train was becoming decidedly boring. He shifted his legs and exhaled. He looked out the window. He ate the sandwich his mother packed for him. Another tree raced past. And Daisuke decided to get up and walk around the train.

"Stay here, Wiz," he cautioned the rabbit, although there was really nothing to worry about because he was sleeping soundly, "and don't get into any trouble." Daisuke was also fairly sure Wiz would behave himself even if he woke up, because the fluffy white animal was still securely in a cat carrier.

Daisuke stepped out into the aisle, lurching a little due to the train's movement. He took a few hesitant steps towards the front, and then continued more steadily. He paused by a doorway and then knocked. He might as well introduce himself.

He heard an affirmative noise from within, and the door opened.

"Oh," said a round-faced boy, looking gloomy. "I was hoping to buy Chocolate Frogs."

Daisuke blinked. In the compartment were four students, two boys and two girls. The girls, who seemed to be twins, had apparently been looking through a magazine, and boys had a book sitting between the two of them as well as two pieces of wood that looked suspiciously like wands.

"Just ignore him," the other boy said cheerily. He gave Daisuke an appraising look. "Blimey, you're tall for a first year!"

_Blimey?_ Daisuke wondered what the word meant. But he remembered to correct the boy anyway. "I'm not a first year student. I'm really a fourth year student." He smiled warmly as the four gave him a strange look.

"I've never seen you before," said one girl. "Or at least, not that I can remember." She tossed her hair and gave Daisuke a look that meant, "and I _would_ remember _you._"

Daisuke laughed a little. "I'm a transfer student, so this is my first year at Hogwarts. My name is Daisuke Niwa. It's nice to meet you." The redhead held out his hand, and the twins promptly shook it in turn.

"Parvati Patil."

"Padma Patil."

"You are twins, right?" Daisuke asked.

"Yes," they replied in unison.

"Everyone asks us that," said Parvati.

"We look like twins," said Padma, "but we're actually in different houses."

"Really?" asked Daisuke, completely misunderstanding them. "You don't live at the same house?"

There was a pause and then the twins burst into giggles and one of the boys laughed. "She meant house as in one of the houses at school. Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. Parvati's in Gryffindor, but Padma's in Ravenclaw," the boy explained.

"Oh," Daisuke said, beginning to laugh with them, though still confused.

Someone suddenly wrenched the door open behind the Daisuke, and a disapproving tone floated inside.

"My God, Weasley, you know that you don't have to pay to sit down here, right? Isn't that why you're still standing?"

A face appeared, apparently belonging to the voice, and Daisuke perceived a blond, smug-looking boy roughly his own age. The face, upon seeing Daisuke's face, looked startled. The boy's eyes flickered to Daisuke's hair, then back to his face.

"Never mind," the blond continued haughtily, shaking off his confusion, "you looked like someone else." He paused before moving down the hallway. "But if you know who you look like, you'll take better care of your appearance, won't you." Two larger students followed him, chuckling at the joke, which Daisuke didn't understand.

He turned back to the four in the compartment, who were glowering at the retreating boys' backs.

"Well, it was nice meeting you," Daisuke told the four sincerely. They smiled at him, said short goodbyes, and then waved as he exited the compartment.

When the door closed, Daisuke heard the tinkling of breaking glass and a sharp, feminine voice. The three boys he had just encountered were laughing and walking towards the end of the train. Broken shards of glass lay in the aisle, but then magically lifted themselves into the air and returned to the window on one of the doorways. Daisuke wondered if he should check it out, but since no one else seemed to notice or care, he continued up the aisle.

When Daisuke finally returned to his own compartment, he was surprised to find the girl from before sitting on the floor. She jumped up and smiled at Daisuke, brushing a strand of red hair behind her ear.

"I was just getting to know your rabbit," she explained. Daisuke realized that, sitting on the floor, she had been eye-to-eye with Wiz. "He's really cute. Or is it a she?"

"He's a boy," Daisuke explained.

"Well, I've never heard of anyone having a rabbit as their pet. My brothers have owls, and my friends have cats and toads, but no one else has a rabbit..." she said, more rambling and listening to her own voice than paying attention to Daisuke's reaction.

Daisuke, however, didn't mind. It felt good to have a friend, however loosely that term might apply. Her name was Ginny Weasley, and she was about to start her third year at Hogwarts. She had just been to an apparently amazing Quidditch World Cup, and was surprised that Daisuke hadn't already heard about the mysterious circumstances the following night. Ginny spoke rapidly, and usually forgot mid-sentence that Daisuke was not a native English speaker. After some time, Daisuke realized he did not understand her latest story at all, but was still content to listen to the dips and highs and dropped consonants of her language.

"Oh, we're getting there soon, so I should get going," she said suddenly with a glance out the window. Daisuke paid attention to the actual words only because her tone had suddenly changed. "We'd better get changed into our school robes! See you around, Daisuke!" Without another word, she flitted out the door and disappeared.

Daisuke looked outside the window as well, and noticed that it had become very dark. Wiz made a sound from his cage, and Daisuke went over to check on him.

"Don't worry, Wiz," he reassured his pet, "I'll be able to let you out soon enough." Wiz looked fine, and Daisuke was sure he had enjoyed his nap. The fourteen-year-old began rummaging around in his bag, looking for the robe his mother made him bring. He hadn't been sure that it wouldn't stand out, but since Ginny had said they'd better get changed, he decided that he'd wear it after all. Finding the black material, he shoved it on over his regular clothes, and then straightened it out.

It still felt silly, but he'd just have to bear it.

The train then lurched to a halt, and Daisuke picked up his suitcase and Wiz's carrier. He followed the other children off the train into a tiny station. Thunder boomed ominously from the night sky, and a very large man appeared before Daisuke.

"Yeh're Daisuke Niwa?" the man boomed, his voice nearly as loud as the thunder.

"Yes?" he responded, swallowing nervously.

"Good. Yer comin' wi' me, then."

* * *

Yay! Finally up! This one's for Aliina!

And thanks to everyone who's reviewed! And kudos to Emily for her super ideas!


	4. Chapter 4

Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief

Chapter 4

* * *

"Good. Yer comin' wi' me, then." The man held out a large hand, which Daisuke took. Or rather, the man took Daisuke's hand, wrist, and part of his arm, shaking him enthusiastically. "We're glad teh have yeh wi' us, Daisuke. Welcome to Hogwar's." Daisuke just nodded and smiled as he tried to decipher the meaning behind the man's outrageous accent. The downpour pelting the ground around them didn't help either. Daisuke pulled his black robes around him tighter. 

"Hi, Hagrid!" a voice yelled from across the platform.

"All righ', Harry?" the man bellowed back, waving. "See yeh at the feast if we don' drown!"

The man looked back down at Daisuke, and then began to explain. "See, all the firs' years go across the lake, and I know it ain' cher firs' year an' all, but it's yer firs' time teh Hogwar's, so ye'll hafta come." The man then began calling for all first years to gather round and listen up to him. Like a tide of ants, the smallest children crept out from around the larger ones and formed a large oval around the man.

"My name's Hagrid, an' welcome to Hogwar's!" he shouted. The others cheered. After quieting them down, Hagrid continued. "It's Hogwar's tradition that all the firs' years go across by boat, so everyone make yer ways calmly to a boat and ge' in. Only four to a boat please!" Everyone had already started rushing towards the shore the first time he said "boat", so that by the end of his explanation, Hagrid was shouting from the depths of his considerable lungs. Daisuke followed the others, though less enthusiastically. The wind was picking up across the black lake, and he was beginning to wonder if it might be dangerous.

"Alrigh', in yeh go," Hagrid chimed suddenly from right behind Daisuke. He gestured towards a boat with three people in it. Daisuke climbed in, and smiled at the others. One looked horribly frightened, and the other two were chatting excitedly about what they had heard about school.

Suddenly, Hagrid shoved their boat off the gravelly shore and they floated out into the water among many other boats, small lights at the fronts of each twinkling like grim fireflies.

Thunder echoed across the clouds, and at least one girl screamed in surprise. A few boys laughed at this, but a loud thunderclap and a streak of lightning rent the sky, and the hard rain continued drenching them.

The waves were large and unruly, their black surfaces glittering like jagged obsidian. More than once, the small boat that Daisuke and his three companions shared tipped at an outrageous angle before quickly, and probably magically, before returning to the horizontal. The ride across the lake, magically propelled, was alternatingly full of gasps of fear and sighs of relief.

Shouts echoed across the storm-tossed waves, and it was a moment before Daisuke realized that they were only coming from the boat next to them. He watched the three in the boat, but then with a horrible sinking feeling realized that there was a form in the water.

Daisuke moved closer to the edge of his own boat, knowing that he did so at his own peril. The boy was pulled over a wave and farther from his own boat. Daisuke prepared to take off his cloak and dive in.

It would be cold. It would be a shock to his body. But Daisuke knew he was a strong swimmer, and if he could just save that boy...

Suddenly a monstrous form rose from the lake. A long, serpentine shape flung itself into the air, and hovered above the dark swells. Its tip turned downwards and probed the water's surface until it came close to the boy. The wind whipped Daisuke's cry from his throat, carrying it uselessly across the lake, as the tentacle wrapped itself around the boy.

Daisuke was frozen to the spot. The boy!

The boy was lifted high into the air, and then, although Daisuke could hardly believe it, the boy was deposited into the boat he had formerly occupied. Muffled cheers sprang from the boats near the nigh-disaster, and Daisuke thought he saw the boy, now more sopping wet than the rest of them, give everyone a thumbs-up. But it was dark, and he may have only been imagining it.

The rest of the trip passed uneventfully, if the term uneventful can be applied to the night crossing of a stormy lake.

Daisuke and the first years hurried up a flight of stone steps and into a large, torch-lit hall. Other students were already inside, shaking off water and shouting at something or other. There was a large staircase and the ceiling rose far above them. The place was beautiful.

"This way, this way!" Hagrid called, herding them towards a room on the side. "We'll need teh get ye all sorted, so les move along!" Chattering excitedly, they entered the room, an expectant hush falling over them.

A small, almost elderly woman entered the room from another door, and took her place in front of them. She cleared her throat, introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and head of Gryffindor House, and proceeded to tell the students in a matter-of-fact tone what was to happen next.

Daisuke was able to gather that they were all about to be sorted into different houses, and he remembered the students on the train talking about that. He wondered which house he would be sorted into, and his mind began to wander. He tuned back in just as the professor was concluding her speech.

"In conclusion, let it be understood now that Hogwarts is a school for educating young wizards and witches, and that any misbehavior is taken very seriously indeed. We do, however, appreciate a spirit of adventure and individuality. Welcome to Hogwarts, and follow me in single file."

With a swish in her robes, the witch turned around and exited the room. The students quickly hurried after her, forming a semi-single file line.

Daisuke felt extremely out of place. He was about a head taller than all of the others, and he seemed to be the only one with bright red hair, which for Daisuke also added several more centimeters to his height. He stuck out worse than a sore thumb, and probably was more like a giant sore thumb that had been dipped in a bucket of red paint.

He sighed, took his place in line, and went out the door.

His spirits did pick up immediately, however, because he had just entered the Great Hall. The ceiling soared above him, and amazing him when he realized that it must be mirroring the actual weather outside. Four long tables dominated the floor, each filled with students and covered with golden dishes and eating utensils. All of the students turned to watch the procession Daisuke and the first years, but thankfully, not everyone was staring at him.

Apparently, at the end of the line, the boy who had fallen in made just as exciting an impression now that he was wearing Hagrid's large furry coat.

Professor McGonagall pulled out a stool and put it in front of the first years, who gathered around at the front of the hall. On it, she placed a very old, and in Daisuke's artistic opinion, very ugly hat. All noise in the room ceased.

Daisuke was confused.

And then the hat began to sing:

_A thousand years or more ago,_

_When I was newly sewn,_

_There lived four wizards of renown._

_Whose names are still well known:_

_Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,_

_Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,_

_Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,_

_Shrewd Slytherin, from fen._

_They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,_

_They hatched a daring plan,_

_To educate young sorcerers_

_Thus Hogwarts School began._

_Now each of these four founders_

_Formed their own house, for each_

_Did value different virtues_

_In the ones they had to teach._

_By Gryffindor, the bravest were_

_Prized far beyond the rest;_

_For Ravenclaw, the cleverest_

_Would always be the best;_

_For Hufflepuff, hard workers were_

_Most worthy of admission;_

_And power-hungry Slytherin_

_Loved those of great ambition._

_While still alive they did divide_

_Their favorite from the throng,_

_Yet how to pick the worthy ones_

_When they were dead and gone?_

'_Twas Gryffindor who found the way,_

_He whipped me off his head_

_The founders put some brains in me_

_So I could choose instead!_

_Now slip me snug about your ears,_

_I've never yet been wrong,_

_I'll have a look inside your mind_

_And tell where you belong!_

Everyone burst into applause when the hat finished, although many of the first years were still looking about in wonder and confusion.

"When I call out your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool," Professor McGonagall told them as she regarded a long scroll of parchment. "When the hat announces your House, you will go and sit at the appropriate table." Without another moment's hesitation, she called out, "Ackerly, Stewart!"

"But which table is which?" asked a girl, looking frightened, as the trembling Stewart Ackerly make his way woodenly to the stool.

The professor quickly pointed out each in turn as Stewart picked up the hat, put it gingerly on his head, and sat down on the rickety-looking stool.

"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat in a deafening tone.

The boy quickly got up and hurried off to the appropriate table amid cheering and applause. Daisuke had to admit that the Ravenclaws did look smart. One already had a book out.

"Baddock, Malcolm!" cried McGonagall.

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat yelled.

Malcolm looked relieved and apprehensive at the same time, but made his way to his table where he was greeted warmly, although Daisuke thought he heard a hiss from another table.

"Cauldwell, Owen!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

As Owen joined his table, Daisuke had to admit that the Hufflepuffs did look to be the friendliest of all. Perhaps that was where Daisuke was headed. The hat _had_ said that Hufflepuffs were for hard workers, and if his English skills were any testament, Daisuke knew that he worked hard.

"Creevey, Dennis!" McGonagall continued.

"GRYFFINDOR!" came the hat's answering shout.

"Dobbs, Emma!" The list continued for a while, and Daisuke began to get nervous.

The hat had said that it had never been wrong before, but Daisuke had to wonder if it had ever sorted anyone like him. That is, someone older than about eleven. And also from Germany. And also who used to have a womanizing, phantom-thief alter-ego who was really a curse. What if he was placed into the wrong house?

"Madley, Laura!" McGonagall called, snapping Daisuke out of his thoughts. His turn was up soon.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"McDonald, Natalie!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Niwa, Daisuke!"

Daisuke swallowed uneasily, but realized that he was probably making a big deal out of nothing. Except he suddenly remembered that the hat was supposed to be able to read his mind. Did it hurt?

He walked up to the old hat, lifted it, sat down, and plopped it on his head.

* * *

Hah! A cliffhanger! And it's really just out of convenience, not cruelty. I just didn't want this chapter to be too long, and the poem took up a lot of space. And really, do you _know_ which house Daisuke's going to be in?

Anyway...er, this one's for Krad.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief

Chapter 5

* * *

He walked up to the old hat, lifted it, sat down, and plopped it on his head.

Instantly, a small voice started speaking low in his ear. Daisuke twisted his head as so many other students had done, and then realized that the voice was coming from a flap in the hat that hung near his right ear.

"Hmm... I was wondering when one of you would return to school..." the hat murmured.

Daisuke resisted the urge to speak back to it.

"No, it wouldn't do any good for you to speak, Daisuke," the hat told him, and the boy immediately knew why. The hat could read his mind.

"Yes, precisely..." the hat continued. "So, I see lots of loyalty, and a strong work ethic. Aha! You were already thinking Hufflepuff, weren't you!" The hat gave a little chuckle as Daisuke relaxed and looked at the Hufflepuff table with a surge of confidence and a smile. "But...oh, yes...I see...for you it definitely must be—

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Daisuke's ears rang as students began clapping and cheering. He took the hat off and placed it back on the stool before trundling off to the table decorated with maroon and gold.

"McDonald, Natalie!" called Professor McGonagall.

"I do hope this year's batch of Gryffindors are up to scratch," a voice nearby said as Daisuke sat down. On his left were more first years, obvious by how small they were. On his right were older students.

"Welcome to the Gryffindor House," said a girl who looked to be older than Daisuke.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Daisuke nodded in reply. "Er, thank you."

"Pritchard, Graham!"

"Wow, is it just my imagination, or are people growing up faster? It's hard to believe you're a first year!" said a girl across the table. She was talking to both Daisuke and the girl who had addressed him before.

"Actaully," Daisuke confessed, suddenly wondering how many times he'd have to say this, "I've just transferred, so I'm really in my fourth year."

"What? No way!" she replied, astonished. "I've never heard of anyone switching schools before!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"It's not _that_ startling," the girl seated on Daisuke's right told her. "It happens all the time at Muggle schools. Actually, now that you mention it, I'm surprised we don't get _more_ transfer students. I mean, what with Hogwarts being such a renowned school and all, you'd think people would be trying to get in all the time!"

"Quirke, Orla!"

"Hm, if you say so..." her friend conceded. She turned directly to Daisuke. "So, do you have Muggle parents?"

Daisuke thought for a moment. "My mother is, well, I guess she's a witch. I don't really know about my dad."

The girl looked embarrassed, as if she had tread on personal family matters. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up anything..."

Daisuke's face reddened.

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Oh, no, it's nothing like that!" Daisuke cried, waving his arms in front of him. "My dad has been living far from home for a long time, so I don't see him very often! I don't think he has any magical powers, but then again, I'm not very sure. That's all," Daisuke finished. He laughed a little nervously.

"Whitby, Kevin!"

"Ohmygosh!" squealed one of the girls, "You are just too adorable!"

"Eh?" Daisuke managed a noise, but a very confused one.

"But it's weird that you don't know if your dad is a wizard or not," the girl next to him said, holding a strand of raven-colored hair in her fingers. Her eyes slid over to Daisuke but she didn't turn her head.

Daisuke shrugged. "It doesn't matter if he is or not. He's my dad, no matter what."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Oh, it's stopped," said the girl across the table after stifling an "awwww" after Daisuke's last comment.

"About time," a voice grumbled from farther down the table.

Just then, the old wizard from the center of the teacher's table stood. He looked exactly as one expected an old wizard to look, including the long white bear, silver robes, wizard hat, half-moon glasses, and kindly expression. He opened his arms in welcome.

"I have only two words to say to you," he said, his eyes twinkling. _"Tuck in."_

Students cheered, and Daisuke joined in, although he wasn't really sure of the meaning of the phrase "tuck in." It didn't matter, however, because food was magically appearing on the table. The golden bowls and platters filled with delicious-looking mashed potato, chicken, beef stew, and much more. The aroma wafted across the table to Daisuke's nose, and he picked up his fork.

Everyone began eating and drinking, and although conversation had ceased when the food appeared, it slowly filled the room with a quiet hum after the plates had been filled. The girls Daisuke had been talking to were looking in the other direction, talking to other girls, and Daisuke was content to eat in silence. The food was so good!

A clang, followed by silence suddenly echoed down the Gryffindor table, and a shrill, feminine voice hissed something. But apparently it was the norm, because talk continued again.

The storm continued outside, battering away at the windows and walls, but inside, everyone was filled with contentment and delicious food. The floating candles gently moved up and down, seeming to mimic the ebb and flow of conversation.

With a sudden flash of lighting, all of the dinner suddenly changed form, and Daisuke found himself staring into a bowl of pudding.

"Finally time for dessert," the girl on his right muttered, reaching forward to help herself to the pudding.

"Cool!" said a first year on his left, his voice still obviously a child's. Several of his friends nearby giggled, and Daisuke couldn't help smiling.

"Here," said the girl next to him, "you _have_ to try this pudding! It's delicious."

He took the pudding, and then everything else she passed him, and they chatted about the food as they ate. She seemed surprised to learn that, out of all the flavors of ice cream, Daisuke preferred green tea and vanilla swirl.

"I've never heard of that kind before."

"My mother gets it from Japan. I went there a lot when I was little, so I think that I like the ice cream because it reminds me being a kid again. It's kind of, what's the word..." Daisuke paused, thinking. His eyes lit up when he found it. "Nostalgic!"

The two laughed together, and then the old wizard stood again, and all conversation stopped.

"So!" he called out, his voice echoing warmly into every corner. "Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices.

"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check." The corners of his mouth twitched, as if he were about to smile, and he continued.

"As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year.

"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

Students around the room gasped, many rising to their feet, and a few calling out in outrage. Daisuke had no idea what was not taking place this year, but could easily gather that many students enjoyed it. He looked around at the angry and shocked faces of his fellow Gryffindors.

The old wizard continued, and the crowd resumed its seats. "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy—but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts—"

A deafening roar of thunder abruptly cut off the kindly old man, and the great doors to the hall opened with a bang.

Daisuke perceived a single man, with a black cloak and a long staff, standing in the doorway. Lightning flashed across the sky, and the first years next to Daisuke quivered. No one spoke, and students were peering over each other to catch a glimpse of the fear-inspiring figure that pulled back his hood to reveal a clump of long, wet hair, and began walking through the hall towards the teacher's table. He walked purposefully, but with a slight hitch to his stride, which coincided with a dull thunk that echoed throughout the silent hall.

The man stood in front of the table, and turned in such a way that the Gryffindor table could see his face. Several members gasped as a flash of lightning threw his features into harsh relief. Daisuke didn't blame them. The man had eyes of two different types, one beady, one large and electric blue. He also had deep scars covering his forehead, his cheeks, his nose, his chin. He reached a hand to the kindly old wizard, and they shook hands, speaking low. The man then limped around the table to sit at the wizard's right side, took his knife, speared sausage, and began eating, seemingly oblivious to the entire room's reaction.

"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" the old wizard said cheerily, giving Daisuke the impression of either complete naivety or slight stupidity.

"Professor Moody."

The wizard and Hagrid were the only ones who applauded, the rest of the room still transfixed by Moody's strange and sudden appearance. Whispers ran up and down the four tables or students. Daisuke suddenly noticed that the man's blue eye was constantly moving, as if it had a life of its own. It even rolled around and pointed backwards into the man's skull.

The old wizard cleared his throat, and continued smiling brightly. "As I was saying, we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

Before Daisuke even had any time to react, or even wonder what it was, a voice called out loudly from somewhere down the Gryffindor table.

"You're JOKING!"

The hall erupted into laughter, and even the wizard who made the announcement laughed quietly.

"I am _not_ joking, Mr. Weasley, though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar..."

McGonagall cleared her throat loudly for propriety's sake, and the wizard took the hint.

"Er—maybe this is not the time...no..." Again Daisuke was struck with the notion that the old wizard was either naive or stupid. But, judging by his age, he was probably just senile.

With a smile, the old man continued. "Where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament...well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope that those who _do_ know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely."

The wizard then began a long-winded explanation that involved some history of an apparent competition that was for some reason not allowed recently. Daisuke gathered that it would start in October, and that students from other schools would arrive then. On Halloween, they would choose the champion. And they were all supposed to be polite, and also over seventeen.

"And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!"

Everyone stood and the hall was now filled with the sound people leaving their seats and exiting the hall, all admist a chatter of excitement at the prospect of being a winning champion.

Several students seemed unhappy, however, probably because they were under seventeen. Two boys from the Gryffindor table, in particular, were arguing loudly about it.

"Gryffindor first years! This way please!" called a voice. Daisuke looked in that direction, having followed the first years everywhere so far, but a hand grabbed his wrist.

"Hey Daisuke!" said a feminine voice that he recognized. He looked up from his wrist into Ginny's eyes. "That's great that you're in Gryffindor! Me too! Here, I'll show you to the Tower!"

Without another word, she ran off, tugging him along after her.

* * *

Ha! I have posted so I will get to watch DeathNote tonight! Please read and review!

So, in "light" of that, this one's for L.

(yay for bad puns!)


	6. Chapter 6

Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief

Chapter 6

* * *

Gryffindor Tower was located behind a portrait of a fat lady. The painting had peered down at Ginny and Daisuke and asked them for a password before Daisuke remembered that paintings weren't actually supposed to move. He blinked.

"It's balderdash," Ginny told him and the Fat Lady at the same time. The painting swung open as if it were a door, and Ginny climbed in. Daisuke followed.

"That was a talking painting," Daisuke told Ginny in a voice of amazement. "Does everyone know it talks?"

Ginny gave him a strange look. "Yes...only Muggle paintings hold still." She paused, and then added, "I thought you said you weren't Muggle-born."

"Oh, it's just, I thought, I mean, I thought it was just...me," he finished lamely. He looked around the tower to avoid looking at Ginny, and the girl burst out into laughter.

"Oh, you are too funny, Daisuke," she said, smiling. He smiled back, realizing that she wasn't really laughing at him.

Other students were milling around the room, apparently glad to see one another and have a chance to talk after summer vacation. The tower was just the right size to avoid being too large or too small. It seemed cozy, especially when Daisuke glanced to the window to see the rain pouring down and a distant flash of lightning.

The portrait hole opened again, and this time the tower was flooded with first year students, who were all chattering excitedly. An older student was leading them. "Girls' dormitory is up that way, and the boys' is up there," he said. "Now, off to bed, all of you. Classes start early tomorrow morning." They reluctantly went towards their respective dormitories.

"Well, I guess he's right," Ginny said to Daisuke. She took his hand and shook it. "It was nice meeting you." Without further ado, she took off up the stairs towards the girls' dormitory. Daisuke went up to his.

He entered the fourth years' room and saw six beds with their heads against the wall. Old-looking trunks were laid out by all of them, except one, next to which Daisuke recognized his own suitcase. There were two students already in the room, one of them being someone he had met on the train.

"I _told_ you it was for him," the boy said. He held out his hand to Daisuke, who shook it carefully. "I'm Dean; welcome to Gryffindor."

"Daisuke Niwa. Er, thank you," Daisuke replied. He smiled at the other boy, who came forward.

"I'm Seamus," the other said, shaking Daisuke's hand. "Nice meeting you. I'm pretty tired though, so I'll see you in the morning." He yawned sleepily, and then went to the bed next to Dean.

"Good night," said Dean as he pulled on a pajama shirt and climbed into bed.

Daisuke went to the suitcase at the ft of his bed and opened it, pulling out his pajamas. He noticed Wiz's cat carrier under the bed and hastily pulled it out. But the white rabbit was nowhere to be seen.

"Wiz?" Daisuke said to the empty cage. Where could he have gone? Daisuke imagined the entirety of the old, staircase-changing, secret passageway-filled castle. And poor Wiz...trapped somewhere...alone...not knowing where to find Daisuke...

"Kyuuu???" came a familiar call from somewhere near Daisuke's pillow.

"What the hell was that?" asked Seamus, sitting up in bed,

"Oh, that's just my rabbit," Daisuke answered, embarrassed. He inspected his bed, and upon pulling back the covers, found Wiz curled up just to the right of his pillow. The rabbit opened his deep red eyes and rolled over.

"Kyu?"

"I'll get the lights," Seamus said, and with a quiet word and a flick of his wand, the lights dimmed, and went out.

Daisuke smiled, amazed, and then pet the rabbit's head. He changed into his pajamas and called out good night to everyone as he climbed under the sheets. To Daisuke's surprise, the bed was already warm, probably by magic. It felt very nice, to be all snug and warm with the wind and the rain hitting the window outside. Wiz clambered out from under the sheets and onto Daisuke's head. Trying to remain quiet, Daisuke attempted to shake the rabbit off his face. Wiz made protesting noises and clung, forcing Daisuke to stop moving beccause he had only caused one of Wiz's feet to hook onto his ear.

"Wiz!" he hissed as the door opened and a swath of dim yellow light fell onto the floor. Instinct made Daisuke and Wiz freeze until they knew who or what was approaching.

"Whoa, it's already all dark in here," said a voice.

"Lumos," said another softly. At the same time, a soft white light appeared at about eye-level in the doorway.

"Shh..." said a third, and Daisuke saw a shadow of an arm on the floor, gesturing towards Dean and Seamus. Then the door closed.

"Don't worry, we're not asleep yet," said Seamus, and Daisuke could tell from the sound of sheets crinkling that he was sitting up again.

"That's okay, I can find my way around this room in the dark just fine," said the first voice. There was a murmur from the second boy and the white light went out. Daisuke could hear a few steps as the speaker made his way across the room, and then a sudden thud. Everyone immediately burst into laughter that they tried to keep quiet.

"Ouch!" said the boy who had attempted the night crossing of of the room.

"Ron!" said the second one, repeating, "Lumos!" The soft white light lit up the room this time, and Daisuke could see that it came from the end of a wooden stick, which could only be called a wand. A magic wand.

Daisuke looked over to the poor boy who had smacked his knee into someone's trunk. The red-head was trying to not hop on one leg and look like an idiot.

The boy holding the wand had black hair, and glasses, and Daisuke recognized the third one as the one on the train who had been hoping to buy Chocolate Frogs.

"Well, I think we can rule you out for sure as the Triwizard Champion," said the boy with the wand to Ron, laughing. Ron rolled his eyes.

"Wait, it's not his fault," said the Chocolate Frog boy, counting beds in the room. "There's a new student!"

Everyone suddenly noticed Daisuke, who had to force himself to not shrink down into the covers to avoid the attention of all five boys in the room. Even Dean was staring at him.

"What?" asked Ron, confused. "How'd he get here?"

"You're the transfer student, right?" asked the Chocolate Frog boy. Daisuke sat up and nodded. "I'm Neville Longbottom," he said, and then plopped down on the bed next to Daisuke.

"Um, there's a rabbit on your head," said Ron.

Everyone in the room laughed again, as Daisuke pulled Wiz off his spiky red hair and set him in his lap.

"I'm Ron Weasley," said Ron, once the laughter had died down.

"My name's Daisuke Niwa," said Daisuke, beaming. He turned to the last boy, who had not yet introduced himself.

The boy shrugged and looked down as if he didn't really want to introduce himself. He mumbled and it was rather hard for Daisuke to understand. "I'm, well, Harry Potter."

"Nice to meet you all," said Daisuke. He held up Wiz. "This is Wiz, my rabbit."

Again, everyone laughed. Wiz made a loud "kyuu!", which caused everyone to laugh again. After a few moments, the Harry, Ron, and Neville murmured their good nights and went to bed. The light at the tip of Harry's wand winked out as the beds finished creaking. The sound of the rain hitting the windows seemed to flood the room for a moment, until Ron spoke.

"I might go in for it, you know," his voice echoed into the darkness, "if Fred and George find out how to...the tournament...you never know, do you?"

"S'pose not..." someone, probably Harry, whispered back.

"Good night," Daisuke whispered firmly. A chorus of good nights answered him, and Daisuke snuggled deeper under his warm blankets and drifted off into sleep.

* * *

Thank you SOOO much for all of the reviews and the endless patience!! I'm so sorry it's taken so long to post the next chapter. I promise the next one will come soon. Thank you to anja-chan, 'DalisaY-17', Death2HeartlessSoul, Eruda and Freya, Giz-mix, Nadeshiko Tenshi, NinjAngel, Rose Diamond, Shakugan no Shana, Super Goat Grl, rosel604, and xXStillWatersXx for adding this story to their favorites list. Thank you to the very long list of people who added this to their story alert list. I appreciate it lots, and believe me, everyone's reviews have kept me going in a time of no internet access. Thanks muchly. Please look forward to the next chapter!!

Tobi Tortue


	7. Chapter 7

Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief

Chapter 7

* * *

Daisuke awoke with the rest of his roommates to find a dreary gray light seeping through the windows of Gryffindor Tower. At least the rain wasn't pounding on the windows like the night before. Daisuke sat up and yawned, and Wiz, still mostly asleep, slid right off the bed and fell with a dull thump to the floor.

"Kyuu!" the rabbit said angrily. He gave Daisuke a dirty look. Neville, who had just put on a black wizarding robe, tried unsuccessfully to stifle his laugh.

"Sorry, Wiz," Daisuke said apologetically. He got out of bed and crouched down next to his bed, pulling some clothes out of his suitcase and patting the top of the frumpled rabbit's head.

"See you down at breakfast, 'kay Daisuke?" Neville said, pausing for a moment at the doorway.

Daisuke hastily pulled his shirt on all of the way, but unfortunately pulled his head through an armhole. He smiled at Neville anyway, hoping his face hadn't become the color of his hair. "Sure, see you there," he told the boy, pretending that everything was normal.

Neville left the room and Daisuke hurriedly took the shirt off and put it on the right way. Someone in the room--Daisuke thought the sound came from Ron--suddenly snored loudly. This woke Harry, who must have also thought it was Ron, because he pulled a sock off his left foot and threw the rolled-up ball at Ron's face.

"Huh? Wuzzat?" said the freckled boy, sitting up rapidly and blinking his eyes. Daisuke smothered a grin, and Harry pretended to be asleep.

"See you down at breakfast, 'kay?" said Daisuke, mimicking Neville's words and, he hoped, his British accent. Daisuke had learned from his English teacher to copy others to sound more natural.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure," said Ron, rubbing his eyes and looking, for the most part, still asleep.

Daisuke slipped out of the room, and walked down the stairs to the common room. As he set foot on the floor, a figure suddenly popped up out of a chair and rounded on him. Daisuke took a step back, but his heel smacked into the bottom stair and he toppled over backwards.

"Oh, are you okay?" asked Ginny, looking at him in concern.

"Yes," Daisuke said, taking her hand and getting up. "I just wish I wasn't so clumsy," he told her. She smiled.

"So, shall we go get breakfast?" she asked as they moved towards the door. "I remember my first year, and I kept getting lost and had to have help to find my way from Gryffindor Tower to the Great Hall, and then I kept almost being late for Potions." She paused thoughtfully, and then added, "It would help to have a good map, you know?"

Daisuke nodded, thankful for her help.

The two climbed out of the portrait hole, and then walked along a hallway. Daisuke followed her through a doorway that was pretending to be an old tapestry, but as they passed through, he though he heard a strange whisper. He looked behind him, but the hallway vanished as he stepped through the tapestry.

"Neat, isn't it?" Ginny said, thinking he was glancing around because of the unusual tapestry. "I wish I had secret passageways in my house. I have six older brothers, you know." Without seeing her face, Daisuke could tell that she was rolling her eyes.

_That's him, isn't it..._

Daisuke looked behind him again. The king and queen on the tapestry waved.

_Yes, but does he know that _he's_ here?_

Daisuke thought that this time, the whisper came from the wall. He stared at the wall, and the portraits smiled and waved back, except for one, which gave him a look that must be similar to the one he was giving them. Daisuke looked away.

_Should we tell him?_

_No! _He_ has to find him!_

_Why?_

_Because he said so!_

Finally, Daisuke could bear it no longer. He stopped, and tapped Ginny on the shoulder just before they reached a large staircase.

"Do you hear that?" he asked, just as the staircase made a large grinding noise and began to rotate away from them.

Ginny gave him a flat look. "Daisuke, I'd have to be deaf not to hear that!" She surveyed the room, which was fully of swinging, moving staircases.

"No, I meant before that," he said, tapping Ginny's shoulder again. She turned around in a fashion that made it clear that she was in no mood to play games. Daisuke was hesitant, but he decided that he'd better ask her what was going on. "Those voices whispering," he said, looking Ginny straight in the eye.

"Voices...whispering?" she asked carefully. Her eyes looked wide and glassy. She suddenly grabbed Daisuke's shoulders, hard, but did not shake him. Daisuke jerked his head back in surprise. "What is it saying?" she hissed.

"Er," said Daisuke, alarmed by her behavior.

Ginny shook him, once, and he was surprised by the amount of strength in her arms. "Tell me, Daisuke! What did you hear?"

"Well, they said that someone is here, but doesn't know that this other person is here, and also that the other person has to find the first person...because...the first person said so? Or maybe that's referring to the other person..." Daisuke looked at Ginny in concern. "Are you okay, Ginny?" He put his hands on her upper arms, and she quickly withdrew her grip on his shoulders.

"Yeah, it's just..." she paused for a moment, and then looked up at Daisuke with worry and fear. "Don't do what the voices tell you to do, Daisuke. And if they sound threatening, find one of the professors immediately." Ginny continued to stare him down.

"Well, they didn't really sound threaten..." he trailed off at the look on her face. "Right, if they sound bad, I'll tell an adult."

The stairway swung back into place in front of them, and the two stepped onto it and began to head down to the Great Hall where breakfast awaited. Daisuke heard more murmurs from the walls, but decided to keep it to himself. He had been in (and gotten out of) plenty of situations, and he didn't want Ginny to needlessly worry. But the fact that she was worried made Daisuke uncomfortable. He didn't want to think that he was going crazy, but then again, he was hearing whispers coming from the walls.

They entered the Great Hall just as hundreds of owls flooded the room, some dropping letters and small parcels, others swooping down to land near students. One fluttered in lamely and knocked over a Hufflepuff's pumpkin juice.

"Whoa," said Daisuke.

Ginny, who had not paused in the doorway, looked back at Daisuke in confusion. "Er, what?" Apparently, owls bombarding students with packages was a normal morning occurrence.

"N-nothing," the boy said, grinning and waving his hands in front of him in denial. He hurried to her side, and the two looked for an open space at the Gryffindor table.

No sooner had Daisuke taken a bite of toast than he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around, strawberry jam on his upper lip, and saw an older student looking at him with an expression of distaste and curiosity.

"You're Daisuke Niwa...right?" she asked, her face trying desperately to avoid a grimace. She was blonde and wearing shimmery pink lip gloss.

Daisuke nodded, and the girl held out a rolled-up piece of parchment. It was tied with a black ribbon. Daisuke took the scroll, and the girl left with a huff and a toss of her hair. She pulled out a thin wand and seemed to be examining her fingernails with it.

"Sheesh, what's _her_ problem?" Ginny said, glaring at the girl's retreating back. She and Daisuke shared a look that ended with a shrug. "Oh, you've got jam on your lip," Ginny noticed. Daisuke hurriedly wiped it off after taking another bite of toast.

"Should I open it?" he asked Ginny. She nodded, and then helped herself to more scrambled eggs.

He untied the black ribbon with the same care he applied to defusing bombs. Laying the ribbon carefully on the table, he slowly unfurled the parchment. Ginny leaned over, giving him a quick "is this okay?" glance, and then the two read the flowing script.

_Daisuke,_

_Please come to my office as soon as you have finished breakfast. I am sure any of your companions can show you the way. There is something of importance we need to discuss._

_Albus Dumbledore_

_p.s. The password is Cursed Cocoas._

Daisuke read the note twice, and then noticed that Ginny was giving him a curious stare. He stared back, shrugged, and then picked up his toast.

"Oh," Daisuke said suddenly, nearly dropping the poor piece of toast, "Ginny, will you take me to Professor Dumbledore's office?"

"Yeah, sure, Daisuke." She nodded and resumed eating. "Do you know what it's about?" She tried for nonchalance, but Daisuke could tell that she was dying to know why he had been summoned to the headmaster's office before class had even started. Daisuke vaguely wondered if he were in trouble. Or maybe they would put him in Hufflepuff after all...

"Um, Daisuke, you didn't answer me," Ginny's voice came out flatly, pulling him away from his vivid imagination.

"Oh, right." Daisuke thought for a moment. "No, I have no idea what this is about." He crunched down the last bite of toast. They ate in silence for a while as Daisuke people-watched. Across the room, two boys were tapping each other with their wands, and wherever their wands tapped, a tuft of blue or green fur sprouted. They seemed to be laughing and having fun. A girl at the Hufflepuff table pointed her own wand at her face, gave it a flick and a tap, and then a small cloud of smoke poofed off her face. She squeaked in terror and ran out of the room, accompanied by three of her friends. Ginny suddenly stood.

"I have to go back to the Tower soon to get my things for class, but I should probably take you to Dumbledore's office first. You ready?" she grabbed a last strawberry before stepping over the bench and into the aisle.

"Oh, yeah, just a second," he responded shoving a last spoonful of cereal into his mouth. He followed Ginny's lead and stood, not bothering to clean up his place or take it to some cafeteria cleanup shelf.

Ginny took off down the halls, Daisuke trailing after her.

_I think they're meeting now._

_How exciting!_

_But _he's_ not here yet!_

_Are they going to see each other?_

_He's so short..._

Daisuke pretended he didn't hear myriad voices chattering, until...

_Look around, Daisuke!_

_Shhhh!!!!_

Daisuke whirled around, wondering where the voice that had said his name came from. There was no one behind him in the passageway, and there had been no sudden movement at the end of the hall as if someone were tailing him. The only movements were the slight flickering of torches and the flat gestures of the paintings on the walls. A maid beamed at him from her portrait before hefting a load of laundry to a table.

He shook his head slowly as he turned back to follow Ginny.

Ginny had stopped, and was staring at him with her expression of fear.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing," Daisuke said, laughing quickly. He took a few quick steps to her and motioned for her to keep going to the headmaster's office. She hesitated, and then nodded slowly, turning around.

"Did you hear the voices again, Daisuke?" she asked quietly. She kept her pace, and didn't look back at him.

Daisuke looked at her heels, and then nodded. Then he realized she wasn't watching. "Yeah, actually." He tried to sound as casual as possible, and also as quiet as possible.

"_That's_ probably what Dumbledore wants to talk to you about," she said, coming to a halt in front of an oddly-shaped gargoyle. She pointed at the alcove behind it. "His office is behind there. Say the password..." Ginny hesitated for a moment, as if she were about to say something else, but then decided better of it. "I'll see you in class, Daisuke."

She trotted off down the hall, pausing only once to look back at him before turning around a corner.

Daisuke turned back to the gargoyle. "Er, Cursed Cocoas?" he questioned, and then jumped back as the wall behind the statue slid away and became a strange, revolving staircase. Daisuke looked up and down the hall, stepped on the lowest step, and was carried upwards.

He found himself in a room that, although it seemed very strange, seemed very fitting for the sort of headmaster that had spoken to the school the evening before. There were old paintings on the walls, all of them portraits, though some of them oddly blank, as if the sitter had just walked off. After a moment, Daisuke realized that that was probably precisely the case. He took another step into the room, and a large orange bird on the edge of the desk squawked loudly. Strange instruments littered the rest of the desk, and more were sitting in glass-windowed cabinets on the edges of the room. There was also a bag of candy on a round table.

"Do come in, Daisuke," said a kindly voice coming from the chair behind the desk. It was Professor Dumbledore. He still looked like every stereotype of a wizard Daisuke had come across, but his face seemed a little more drawn, a little more aged. Today's robe was a brillant shade of deep purple. "Have a seat," the wizard said, gesturing at the chair opposite him at the desk.

Daisuke did as bidden, and then looked expectantly at his headmaster.

Dumbledore looked at Daisuke with a smile, and it seemed as if all traces of weariness had vanished. "Daisuke, I have something that I need to give to you before you begin your studies here at Hogwarts."

Daisuke tried not to show that he was horribly relieved that he was not in trouble. "What is it, sir?"

"Your wand."

Daisuke looked surprised, and then realized that he was probably the only student who had arrived without one. Everyone else seemed to either have theirs out, or within easy reach.

"Oh, thanks." Daisuke felt a little embarrassed. Had he been supposed to go get it earlier? He wasn't sure. "Wait, do I need to pay you?" he asked, wondering how much a wand was supposed to cost. How would he know he was getting a good deal?

Professor Dumbledore laughed kindly, shaking his head. "No, no, that won't be necessary." He held up his hand. "This is a gift for you from a friend of yours, and your mother has already made the necessary payments to Ollivander's." He stood up and ambled around the desk to a locked cabinet. Daisuke watched him from his seat, curious as to what was inside the cabinet.

Dumbledore pulled a wand from his pocket and pressed it lightly to the lock. The lock dissipated into a wisp of smoke, and the cabinet opened. Dumbledore retrieved a long, thin box, and then turned around and held it to Daisuke. The cabinet closed itself and the lock smoked back into existence as the headmaster sat back into his chair.

"Open it," Dumbledore urged.

Daisuke opened it the same as he had opened his note from the professor. Inside the box was a black wand, about a foot long. He glanced at Dumbledore, and then lifted it out of the box.

Daisuke had never felt an object that seemed so familiar or so much a part of him as the wand he held in his hands. It was as if the piece of wood were made from a very piece of him, or was an extension of his arm, hands, fingers, or perhaps even his thoughts. It radiated a feeling of warmth, strength, and companionship. It was like a part of him that he had lost, and never realized he had needed it all this time. Instantly, he felt that this wand was his best friend, and instinctively he knew he never wanted to be parted with it.

He glanced up at Dumbledore, aware for the first time that tears had sprung into his eyes when he had first touched the black wand.

Dumbledore nodded calmly, and then leaned forward with a twinkle in his eyes. "Do not fret, dear boy, at least not yet."

The old man and the young boy shared a long look as Daisuke's fingers tightened around the black wand. Professor Dumbledore nodded once, and leaned back.

"Now, Daisuke, I believe that if you do not leave this office, you will be late for your first class."

Daisuke shot to his feet. "Oh!" He turned and headed to the door, then spun back around. "Wait, sir, which way do I go? I don't even have a schedule yet!"

Dumbledore smiled again, his eyes crinkling. "Ah yes, that's right. I have some more things for you." The old wizard held out a piece of parchment that was clearly divided into five columns. "Your schedule. And you will find that all of your books are being held by your teachers. I believe that a tap of your wand will translate them into German, but you might want to try reading the English first." The headmaster gave Daisuke a wink as Daisuke took his schedule.

"Where are the greenhouses?" the boy asked, terror at being late mounting.

"I'm sure that the paintings on all of Hogwarts's halls would be delighted to help you." Again, the old man's eyes seemed to twinkle. There was a hint of a mischievous smile on his wizened features.

"Right," Daisuke answered, and, holding the his wand tightly in one hand and his schedule in the other, left the room. "Thank you!"

* * *

Thank you readers, for being sooooo patient. I honestly feel bad about the wait, you know. Chapter 8 is a little different, and will be up soon. Please continue to leave reviews! And someone please attempt to give me some criticism. Like the rest of you, I only want to improve.

Thanks muchly!!

-Tobi Tortue


	8. Chapter 8

Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief

Chapter 8

* * *

He went through the stack of mail, coughing every so often from the dust. The afternoon light filtered through a half-open window and the dust hanging in the air. The white sheets still covered every piece of furniture, and he did not feel the slightest urge to remove them. It wasn't as if he planned to stay long.

He set down the stack of unopened letters in his right hand as he removed his glasses with his left. He pulled a white handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the lenses clean. Putting them back on, he picked up the letters again, checking the return address for anything noteworthy. He didn't bother checking who they were addressed to, for it was always mail for his mother.

His eyes scanned the top left corner as his mind wandered. He knew what she had feared. He knew the reasons for her actions, now, nearly ten years later. He understood, but did not agree. She had run away, and that was all, leaving a five-year-old secret alone with a centuries-old monster...

The word "school" hit his eyes and seemed as strange as the word "witchcraft" beside it. Because he was the child his mother had pretended never existed, no one would have asked him to attend school.

But as he pulled the envelope out further from the stack, he saw that it was actually addressed to someone other than his mother.

Mr. Satoshi Hikari

4816 Oliver Street

London

A letter for himself? He checked the return address, still much in disbelief.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Satoshi's blue eyes widened. He flipped it over and saw that wax sealed the letter, and it was stamped with a seal that must belong to the school: an ornate letter H with a different animal in each of the four corners. There were no stamps on the letter.

Although many people would assume the letter was a prank, Satoshi did not. Satoshi happened to already believe in magic, and even if he didn't, anyone who had been able to send him a letter despite his mother's precautions had to be more than ordinary.

He broke the seal, which came off intact because the wax had, over the years, become brittle, and he pulled out what should have been his first letter.

_Dear Mr. Satoshi Hikari,_

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is proud to accept you as a student for the coming fall term. In fact, due to your unique talents and undoubtedly sharp intellect, I would suggest you take an early train to Hogwarts. Please take the enclosed ticket to King's Cross Station and board the train at Platform 9 and 3/4 at 10:00 AM on August 12th. If this is, unfortunately, impossible, the regular train leaves from the same platform at 9:00 AM on September 1st, as always. Enclosed is a list of books you will require for your schoolwork. If you choose to arrive early, these will be sent to the school (so do not bother to buy them yourself)._

_Please tell me of your arrival decision by return owl._

_Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

_Headmaster_

Satoshi put the letter down carefully. Sunlight still streamed lazily through the window of the old London apartment. The dust was still everywhere.

Satoshi picked the letter back up, returned it to its envelope and stood. He put the letter on one of the sheet-covered chairs, and then hurried through the rest of the mail.

* * *

It was after midnight by the time Satoshi returned to his hotel room in another part of London. He hadn't discovered any more letters, or any other hint relating to Hogwarts, Witchcraft, Wizardry, or Albus Dumbledore. But he hadn't really expected to. He knew the late Miss Hikari had been thorough, and was surprised that even one letter had slipped past her paranoia.

He flipped open his laptop and opened his police profile database with help from his Interpol ID code and the hotel's wi-fi.

Albus Dumbledore, he typed rapidly. He hit enter, and opened up four new windows. He chose a different search engine for each and searched for "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry". He returned to the first page.

"Non-existant profile

Did you mean...

Albus Dunday?

Albus Dolittle?

Albus Darming?

Allen Dumderin?

Alan Dartentag?

Alec d'Urberville?

_more_

Search "Albus D"

Search "A. Dumbledore"

Web database by INTERPOL

Last updated: 22:18 PM September 3"

Saotshi checked the search engine results after opening the first four oni the list in new tabs. Two of the search engines came up with pages relating to Satanic cults, the portection of young Christian minds, and educational Wiccan sites. The third found him magical ways to cure pigs. The fourth said "Did you mean_ Hog Warts_ Scho...?"

He began to slowly look through the related pages. He was, if anything, methodical and intelligent. He would find it.

By 3:00, Satoshi had hacked into a web forum thread that mentioned a specific magical school located somewhere in England. He was tracking down the three participants, who were discussing the protection put around the training facility. It appeared that this school was "unplottable," "covered from tower to lake with enchantments," "loaded with charms," and no one could "apparate" into it. Apparently, there was a nearby "Forbidden Forest" that no one in their right mind would call an entrance or an exit. Except maybe a certain individual known as "Hagrid." Satoshi searched for "Hagrid" using the Interpol database, but found nothing.

Satoshi had also found a similar forum, but this one was discussing the harshness and unfair policies of the teachers at a school in France. (Fortunately Satoshi was fluent in French.) The students found their Charms teacher to be nice, young, and rather good-looking. They did not discuss the protections placed upon their school, but Satoshi traced them to be three 15-year-old girls living in different provinces of France. He downloaded their information onto a private file on his hard drive, and then closed the forum.

He followed the other thread and found similar topics linked to it. One of them mentioned "Hogwarts" and Satoshi lips curved upwards in a smile. He hacked into the person's computer, and found a myspace page that belonged to a Justin Flinch-Fletchley. The picture on his profile showed him in a black robe, pointing a wand at a bush. The bush was, ironically, burning.

Justin's myspace friends all had similar pictures, and his posts all seemed to be related to magic charms, missing books, and how much fun they would have during the coming school year. It seemed as if Justin and his friends had been online regularly, nearly every evening, up until the 31st of August. "c u at k's x" was posted as his status.

"See you at King's Cross," Satoshi murmured before stifling a yawn. He sat back and pulled off his glasses, massaging the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes momentarily. He supposed that it was probably time to go to sleep.

For a moment, he was gripped with an icy tightness and a small voice in his head warned him against going to sleep. When he woke up, would he still be...

Of course he would still be Satoshi, he told himself sternly. He saved the web pages and downloaded Justin's personal data off the Interpol database, although it was listed under Justin Flinch. It wasn't as if Krad were still around, keeping him awake and on his toes all night. He logged out of the database, and was just about to close the window when a short article caught his eye.

"Another work by the mysterious Phantom Thief?"

The title was the link to another page, and, remembering that he was the Commander in Chief Regarding Dark Affairs, Satoshi clicked on it. He was sure that it had nothing to do with the actual Dark Mousy, but knew that he should know all of the rumors surrounding him to reassure anyone he talked to.

"**Another work by the mysterious Phantom Thief?**

Late on the unseasonally misty evening of August 21st, a warning note appeared outside the Berlin Museum of Art. 'Tonight at midnight, I will come for Kokuyoku, The Black Wings. -Dark' was the message, although a short investigation proved that the note was probably a forgery. Still, security peaked at midnight, including a special appearance of the Berlin Chief of Police, who stated that they would protect the museum "at all costs" and were willing to show "any necessary force."

However, despite the police force's precautions, a winged man flew to the rooftop, avoiding the rubber bullets the police were firing. The thief was able to get inside the building using a window, and then disappeared inside. Confusion reigned within, as there seemed to be more than one Dark, until, according to several eyewitnesses, the thief "vanished before their eyes."

Stranger than this tale, however, is the fact that the Museum claimed to have no such work known as Kokuyoku or The Black Wings. Authorities deny seeing the thief (or thieves) leaving or putting his hands on any piece of art at all.

So what was it that the thief was after?

Or was this simply a fake Phantom Thief, who has been able to copy Dark's unusual yet spectacular entrances and exits?

The Berlin Police are still investigating the matter. More details are to follow."

Beneath the article was contact information for several members of the Berlin squad, as well as a picture of the thief flying in on what appeared to be large, black wings. Satoshi clicked on the picture to open up a new window with more, larger pictures of the man's daring escapade.

It wasn't him.

Satoshi knew Dark's face well enough, but he also knew that Dark had been sealed _within_ Kokuyoku, and therefore unable to steal it. Dark had already seen to the sealing of Kokuyoku anyway. It had only been a few months since Dark had locked himself and Krad within the artwork. They weren't due to reawaken until Satoshi or Daisuke had male heirs, something Satoshi was planning to avoid, at least for himself.

The more troubling information was that Satoshi had personally seen to the undocumented removal of Kokuyoku from their hometown, and its subsequent relocation to the Berlin Museum of Art. He had done so with his private funds, and considered the move a close-kept secret between himself and the head curator of the museum. Who could have known that Kokuyoku was in the basement of the BMA?

Not only did the mysterious person/group know that the precious painting was there, but they knew that it had some connection with Dark, for they had flown in on his black wings and used tricks that were well-known as his seemingly magical tactics.

Satoshi wished it were the regular Phantom Thief that he was dealing with, rather than some mysteriously well-informed copycat. He could at least read Dark's motives and understand how he worked.

He wearily remembered his idea of getting some sleep, and sent a quick email to his old colleagues, reminding them that he could spot the real Dark, and that this one was a fake as the warning note's investigation had suggested.

He slipped under the sheets, kicking off the heavier blanket. Satoshi laid his glasses on the bedside table, turned on the light, and leaned back into the pillow. He had a lot to think about.

Someone had slipped past his mother's guard. He was invited to what appeared to be a magical school. Normally, getting to the bottom of these strange alterations from the norm would be his top priority. But what he had glimpsed on Interpol's site took his immediate attention. A trip to Berlin was in order. A chat with a certain curator, as well.

Satoshi's eyes slowly adjusted to the dim pallor of the starlit room, which retained a certain blurriness because he wasn't wearing his glasses. He reached down and pulled the thicker blanket over him, realizing as he did so that it was not necessarily because he was cold.

He hoped that Kokuyoku had not been moved, and that it was safely sealed.

He shivered, pulled the blankets closer, and waited until he could fall asleep.

* * *

Please review. Do you know how hard it is to write while watching Code Geas at the same time? It's hard. 


	9. Chapter 9

Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief

Chapter 9

* * *

As soon as Daisuke stepped out from behind the strange gargoyle in front of the stairway, the whispering started again. This time they were much louder, and there seemed to be many more than previously.

Daisuke looked up and down the hallway, and saw no one. In fact, nothing moved, other than the paintings on the walls...

...which suddenly began cheering loudly.

"This way!" a portrait of an old lady called from one end of the hallway. "Come on, Daisuke!"

The paintings cheered, and Daisuke suddenly realized the source of the whispers. It had been the _paintings_, speaking quietly to one another.

"Hurry, Daisuke! Class is going to start soon!" yelled a young woman astride a black dragon. She and her mount sailed into the next picture as Daisuke broke into a run, following them.

"Good luck!" cried a chorus of children as the dragon soared over them and Daisuke raced past and skidded around a corner.

He took the stairs three at a time, nearly tripping at the bottom, but he caught the handrail and swung over the side, landing in a roll at the bottom near large double-doors. The black dragon flapped hard and hovered above a small cottage in the frame by the door.

"The greenhouses are just beyond these doors and on the left!" said the rider, motioning towards the thick, dark doors. "If you need anything more, just let me know! I'm Seireth the Dragontamer!"

"Thank you!" Daisuke yelled as he pushed open the doors and ran across a very wet vegetable garden and into a greenhouse full of other students. Fortunately, he did not seem to be late, as another student was walking in and even managed to hold the door open for him.

"Thanks," Daisuke said, hurrying to an empty seat that Ron was apparently saving for him.

On the table were several very... interesting-looking plants. At least, Daisuke _assumed_ they were plants, this being Herbology class, but these did not look like any plants Daisuke had seen before.

Instead of green, these plants were a glossy, slimy black, and instead of flowers or leaves, these plants had gross blobs that might have been stems or bulbs. They looked squishy, and on top of all that, they were moving. Ron's face turned a little green, and Daisuke thought that his face looked more like a plant than the ugly thing in the clay pot.

A squat woman walked briskly into the classroom, and the students quickly hushed. This had to be the teacher. "Bubotubers," she said, and Daisuke looked around the class for help, not understanding the word. "They need squeezing." Enlightenment dawned and Daisuke understood that these...plants...were called bubotubers. "You will collect the pus-"

One student yelled loudly at this development, and the teacher quieted him, warning the class to wear gloves when they squeezed the pus from the ugly, writhing bubotubers into jars she began passing out. The class quieted down, and several students opened books and laid them on the table as others put on heavy gloves.

Daisuke glanced over to his apparent partners. Ron was trembling as he put on his thick gloves, Harry was looking at the plant with a mixture of distaste and bravery on his features, and the other person, a girl with bushy brown hair, was trailing her finger along a line in her book.

"It says the undiluted pus contains malapentrine, which can be very harmful to exposed surfaces," the girl said very matter-of-factly. She looked levelly at Ron as if it proved a point. Then she turned her flat gaze to Daisuke. "You should put on some gloves, you know." She laid the book flat on the table and pulled her own pair of gloves, and watched the wiggling bubotuber with determination.

Daisuke looked around for an extra pair of gloves or something, and managed to catch the attention of the Herboloy teacher. She squeezed between students and tables to Daisuke's side.

"Ah yes, you must be Daisuke Niwa, the new student from Germany," she said, looking at him as if appraising his forehead for the value of its contents. She produced a book from seemingly nowhere, and placed it on the table in front of him. "This is your Herbology textbook, and I hope Professor Dumbledore told you about it." She procured a thick pair of gloves from the same space as the book, and handed them to Daisuke. "If you have any questions, it's best just to as-"

There was a cry from another table, and the professor hurried to see what was the matter.

Daisuke opened the book and stared at the table of contents, looking for bubotubers. Flipping to page 32, he found the same page that the girl at his table had been reading from. He slowly read the first paragraph, and then realized that he did not really understand magic in the first place, so it was turning out to be doubly difficult to understand magic in a foreign language.

He hesitantly pulled out his wand, feeling the same warmth as before spread up through his arm. He noticed that the girl was watching him out of the corners of her eyes as she pretended to focus on her bubotuber. He fingers moved to squeeze one of the boils, and Daisuke quickly looked at his own textbook. He tapped his wand to the book, once, and then drew it back.

The words seemed to melt and swirl together on the page, and then spread back outwards to form proper German letters and words. Daisuke blinked and leaned closer. It had actually worked.

Daisuke felt pretty good about that. He read through the text about Bübotubers, and then pulled on what he assumed to be dragonhide gloves. He moved his jar towards the writhing black bubotuber, and then moved to squeeze what, for all practical purposes, was a plant zit. A thick, yellowish pus oozed out and slopped into the jar.

"Ugh, I don't know if I'll be eating lunch after this…" Daisuke heard Ron say from across the table.

"It's just a plant, Ron, think of it as sap," said the girl, though her face didn't seem to agree with her words.

"But it looks like—" Ron started to complain.

"We don't _need_ to know what you think it looks like," Harry said, concentrating on his bubotuber. "Oh bugger, I keep missing the jar a little."

No one really wanted to look, but the girl slipped out her wand, pointed it to the mess, and whispered, "Scourgify!"

"Thanks, Hermione," Harry said as the pus flew into the jar and left the table clean.

The rest of the lesson continued in very much the same way, except when Daisuke slopped some of the pus on the table and he gave Hermione a pleading look.

"What, am I the only one who knows a Scouring Charm?" she asked when she looked up from her bubotuber. Ron mumbled something to his plant and there was a long pause before Harry looked up suddenly.

"What?" Harry asked, clearly operating from a different plane of existence.

"Well," Daisuke said hurriedly, "I'm new here, so I don't really know anything at all."

Hermione looked at him sharply, in the way that said she was not a person who enjoyed hearing excuses. "Didn't they teach you at your old school?"

"Yes, but it wasn't a magical school," Daisuke explained after a pause to translate her words.

"What, really?" asked Ron, who had stopped mumbling excuses.

Hermione looked embarrassed. "Oh, well, then…I'm sorry I sounded rude earlier. It's just, I think I expected someone from another school to maybe be more prepared than these two." She gestured at Harry and Ron, and then looked at them. "Honestly, O.W.L.s are next year, and I _already_ feel way behind!"

Daisuke suddenly imagined squeezing owls in Herbology class next year, and wondered if magic school was really what he wanted….

"But that's _next_ _year_!" Ron stared at her with a mix of horror and fascination.

"Yeah, well, that's Hermione," Harry said, looking at the bubotuber with the same look.

"Here," Hermione said to Daisuke, holding out her wand. "The proper word is _scourgify_. Just point your wand at the mess and say the word. Go on, try it," she prodded, noticing Daisuke's hesitation.

"Scourgify," Daisuke said warily. Some of the pus oozed thickly back into the jar.

"That's real good for your first try!" Hermione congratulated. She cleaned up the rest and suggested that they all get back to work.

After a time, a bell echoed across the lawns and throughout the castle. The students began packing up their books and taking off their bubotuber pus-stained gloves.

"Finally!" said Ron, as he, Harry, and Hermione immediately began walking off together.

Daisuke paused to look down at his schedule. Next was "Care of Magical Creatures with Slytherin." Dismally, he wondered where he was supposed to go, but was also interested in the class. Perhaps he would learn better ways to take care a Wiz.

The remnants of the class filed out as Daisuke made his way to the teacher.

"Excuse me," Daisuke asked, suddenly reminded of the endless English drills he learned during his time at Azumano J. High, "can you tell me where I can find…" Daisuke looked down at his schedule again, making sure to get the class right. "Care of Magical Creatures?"

The teacher smiled and pointed out across the field. "See that little cottage out there?" she asked, and Daisuke could see it, because the walls of the greenhouse were fairly transparent, but he had always thought that the word "cottage" might refer to something a little more…cute. The "cottage" was sitting right on the edge of what looked like a very dark and very scary wood. He reminded himself that even Azumano's wonderful staff occasionally got things wrong, and that language changes over time.

He nodded appreciatively to the teacher. "Thank you," he said as he turned to the door.

The bottom of Daisuke's robe, which had dried off in the warm greenhouse, again became damp from the wet grass, but the cold drifted further this time, to his ankles. Daisuke wondered who mowed the lawn around here, thinking that if one of his neighbors had had grass this long, undoubtedly that nice lady at the end of the road would have something to say about it. He saw that it was his fellow Gryffindors ahead of him, and hurried to catch up.

Even before he got too close to the cabin, Daisuke recognized exactly who was standing outside it. The enormous form could only belong to Hagrid, who had led him across the lake. Hagrid was currently restraining a very large dog (or perhaps a wolf) by the collar. Daisuke wasn't too sure if he was keeping the dog from jumping at the approaching students, or whether it was to keep him from attacking the crates in front of him.

Daisuke caught up to Harry, Ron, and Hermione just as Hagrid boomed out a greeting. His dog was still whining and leaning against the collar. "Mornin'! Be'er wait fer the Slytherins, they won' want ter miss this—Blast-Ended Skrewts!"

"Come again?" said Ron, and Daisuke was thankful that he wasn't the only one who had trouble understanding Hagrid's thick accent.

Hagrid, however, simply pointed down at the crates with his free hand.

As one, the fourth-year Gryffindors leaned over the crates and met the Blast-Ended Skrewts.

"Eurgh!" squealed a girl as she cringed back. Daisuke saw Dean and Seamus exchange a look and back away slowly. He noticed that after the initial shock, Harry and Hermione made attempts to look interested without looking horrid, and Ron didn't seem to get over the shock.

The Skrewts were a lot like slimy little lobsters. Daisuke supposed that they smelled like lobsters too, but only if the lobsters were dead, and had been sitting out for a while. The crate was filled with probably a hundred of them, squirming and crawling around on their oddly-placed legs and sending out little sparks.

"On'y just hatched," said Hagrid, beaming, "so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves!"

Daisuke looked around and saw that no one seemed particularly thrilled about this idea, especially the group of students who had just arrived. Daisuke wondered what the Skrewts were good for.

"And why would we _want_ to raise them?" asked a smug-looking blond boy, who Daisuke recognized as the one who had mistaken him for someone else on the train. He seemed to be some sort of spokesperson for the group that had just arrived, which Daisuke believed to be students from another house. "I mean, what do they _do_?" the boy continued, and although Daisuke also wanted to know this, he did not agree with the blond boy's way of asking. "What is the _point_ of them?"

Daisuke looked down again at the Skrewts, wondering if they had a point at all. Daisuke had been unconsciously hoping for a lesson on care of magical rabbits, and realized this with disappointment. A Skrewt of a darker gray color started attacking one of its brethren with what looked like a thorn attached to its hind end.

But apparently, Hagrid also did not approve of the blond boy's attitude. He heard the man's voice grate out roughly after a few moments' pause.

"Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus' feedin' 'em today. Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things—I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer—I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake—just try 'em out with a bit of each."

A look of solidarity passed between Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and they walked forward to a bucket of what turned out to be frog livers. Harry stuck in both hands and came up with handfuls of a purply substance that seemed to be even slimier than the Skrewts, which was hard to be. Ron followed suit, and Hermione had the foresight to push back the sleeves of her robe.

Several of the other Gryffindors cautiously followed their lead, and the members of the other house were compelled to do the same. Daisuke walked forward, just behind Dean and Seamus, who were complaining to each other in whispers.

"Ah, hold on righ' ther," Hagrid called, and Daisuke felt the weight of a dead pig land on his shoulder. Daisuke blinked, and then looked behind him. It was no dead pig, but Hagrid's hand. "I've got a book fer yeh, Daisuke," he said gruffly, keeping an eye on the students who were tentatively lowering pieces of grass snake into a crate of Blast-Ended Skrewts.

Daisuke looked up at Hagrid's rather bushy face, and smiled. "Thank you, sir."

"I'll give it ter yeh af'er class, so jus' go an' feed the Skrewts, alrigh'?" Hagrid said, and his gaze suddenly swung to a group of girls who had just squealed. They were still at the buckets of Skrewt food. "An' s'okay ter jus' call me Hagrid. 'Sir' jus' sounds funny, and ev'ryone jus' calls me Hagrid anyway." He smiled broadly and then took two steps to make it to the girls and help them.

Daisuke strode forward with determination, and found himself in line behind the blond boy, Malfoy, who had been so rude to the teacher.

"What does that great big lout think he's doing? Just wait until _my father_ hears about this," Malfoy said, and Daisuke could tell by the emphasis on his parentage that he was quite used to saying that phrase. "Crabbe, why don't you get some of the frog liver. I'll see if they like grass." One of the other boys chuckled appreciatively at this idea, but the other, presumably Crabbe, looked a little put-out as he reached down for the frog livers.

Malfoy reached down and plucked out a handful of grass and turned around, coming up suddenly right in front of Daisuke's face.

"Eh, hi," said Daisuke, hoping his smile was less like a grimace than it felt. "I'm Daisuke," he said, holding out his right hand in the hopes that Malfoy would shake it. The boy had grass only in his left hand anyway.

Malfoy gave him a look that other students were reserving for the Skrewts. They stared at each other for a moment, neither moving. Then, "What are you doing standing in my way?" Malfoy asked condescendingly. Crabbe and the other large boy moved into flanking positions, and for a moment, Daisuke was almost intimidated. "Do you realize who I am?"

"No. That's why I introduced myself, and I'm holding out my hand for you can shake it."

The boy rolled his eyes. "I suppose I can forgive a foreigner. Germany, right?" he said, placing his hand in Daisuke's. Daisuke nodded. The boy turned slightly to one of his friends and said to them, rather than Daisuke, "I have a few relatives in Germany, you know." He looked levelly at Daisuke and said firmly, "The name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. If you want to get ahead at Hogwarts, then I'm the man you'll want to have as your friend." His eyes roamed over the class, lingered on the crate that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were hovering around, and returned to Daisuke. "There are some people worth knowing, and some people that aren't, if you know what I mean." His buddies smirked at this.

"Maybe," Daisuke hedged. He changed the subject. "What house are you in?"

Draco gave a little, mirthless laugh. "Slytherin, of course." He pointed at his friends. "And this is Crabbe, and Goyle, also of Slytherin. You got put in Gryffindor, didn't you?" he asked, leaning in a little conspiratorially. Daisuke nodded. "Rotten luck, that. I suppose you have to put up with _him_." Draco's eyes slid to a glare directed at Harry.

Daisuke shrugged. "He's not that bad…."

Malfoy gave him an even look, one that said _you'd better think Harry's a loser, dorky German boy_.

"Well, I'll see you around," Daisuke said, ready for the end of the conversation. "We've got to, uh, feed the…things." Blast-Ended Skrewts was a mouthful, and the reminder of his nationality seemed to bring his accent to the forefront.

Draco laughed appreciatively. "Things indeed," he said, and then he and his friends went to a crate. Daisuke looked down at the bucket and swallowed, hoping that his breakfast would stay down. He reached his hand into the bucket and pulled out a very slimy, slippery handful of small frog pieces.

He decided to join Neville at his crate of Skrewts, which he shared with two girls who were probably in Gryffindor, seeing as they had also been in Herbology class that morning.

"Oh hi, Daisuke," said Neville. He dropped a dollop of ant eggs into the crate. The girls looked up and took their hands out of the box. Both had tiny amounts of ant eggs in the palm of their right hands. It looked as if they'd been pretending to feed the Skrewts, but hadn't really done anything at all.

"I'm Lavender," said one girl. "You're the new boy in our year."

"We met on the train," said the other girl, and Daisuke realized she was right. He hesitated, trying to come up with her name.

"Pa…?" he hazarded.

"Parvati," she said, smiling. "I'm glad you got put in Gryffindor!" And she _did_ look glad. He remembered that she was a twin, and with a sudden pang, thought of Riku. What was she doing now?

He shook his head and looked down at the Skrewts. "Do they like the…that stuff?" Daisuke asked Neville, forgetting exactly what they were feeding the creatures.

Neville looked at the Skrewts with an unreadable expression. "It's hard to say."

"Let's try this, then," Daisuke said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. He held up the frog livers as if they were remotely appetizing. The girls giggled.

"Mmmm," said Neville, cracking a smile and sharing a look with Daisuke.

He picked a liver off the top of his handful and carefully lowered it into the box. The Skrewts didn't seem to notice, and continued crawling and sliding all over each other blindly. He dropped a liver in and watched as it slowly sank to the bottom. Lavender flicked a tiny lump of eggs near the next liver that Daisuke plopped onto the mass of ugly gray Skrewts.

Nothing really seemed to be happening.

"Eurgh," said Lavender quietly, and everyone suppressed a laugh.

"Ouch!" yelled Dean, and Daisuke straightened up and looked to the sound along with the rest of his classmates. "It got me!" Dean held up a hand angrily as Hagrid rushed over. "Its end exploded!"

"Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off," Hagrid said, nodding and not looking too closely at Dean's injury.

"He should have been sacked last year after the winged thing," Daisuke heard Draco whisper from behind him. He glanced back to Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle's crate. Goyle seemed to be poking the Skrewts, or perhaps stirring them with a stick, and Crabbe was periodically dropping pieces of grass in. With the black robes and the backdrop of the eerie forest, they appeared to be children of the witch trio of Shakespearean fame. Draco was doing nothing, apart from giving Hagrid's back a cool look.

"Eurgh!" said Lavender loudly, calling Daisuke's attention back to his own crate. "Eurgh, Hagrid, what's that pointy thing on it?"

She was pointing into the crate, at a Skrewt that had what seemed to be a large thorn sticking out of it. It looked like something you wouldn't want to touch, not that you wanted to touch a Skrewt at all.

"Ah, some of 'em have got stings," said Hagrid, and he seemed to be excited that someone was asking a question besides what the creatures were good for. Lavender stopped pointing immediately, and kept her hands away. Hagrid continued enthusiastically. "I reckon they're the males…. The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies…. I think they might be ter suck blood." Daisuke noticed that several more hands were removed from other crates.

"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive," Draco said loudly. "Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?" he finished sarcastically.

"Just because they're not very pretty, it doesn't mean they're not useful," Herimone answered sharply. "Dragon blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?"

Draco rolled his eyes and muttered something to Crabbe and Goyle, and class seemed to resume normally. Harry and Ron kept showering Draco's crate with smoldering glares, which were returned with icy stares from Draco. Hermione did her best to ignore them. Neville narrowly avoided being stung by one of the more ferocious of the Blast-Ended Skrewts, and Lavender just avoided the Skrewts entirely. The bells finally tolled across the castle lawns.

"Finally!" Neville said, dropping his handful of snake grass into the crate. "I'm starving!"

"How can you be hungry _now_?" Lavender asked, gesticulating towards the crate of Skrewts, who were, after all, not entirely conducive to a healthy appetite.

"Er," said Neville, looking sheepish. He shrugged.

"Daisuke!" shouted a voice that was instantly recognizable as Hagrid's. "Don' ferget cher book!" And Daisuke's Care of Magical Creatures textbook was placed firmly into his hands.

"Thanks," he said cheerily.

"Why don't you eat lunch with us, Daisuke?" Parvati asked, and because she suddenly linked arms with Lavender, it was clear to Daisuke that by "us", she meant only herself and Lavender.

"Is it lunch time?" Daisuke asked, blinking a little stupidly.

The girls giggled and Daisuke agreed, but pretended that he thought Neville was included. He called the boy before he got too far away, and together the four hiked back up to the Great Hall for lunch.

* * *

Thanks to everyone who supports me in writing Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief, especially anja-chan, who always betas, and Yammit, who helped me cut this chapter into two pieces. Question: which is better, long chapters but less frequent postings, or shorter chapters and more frequent postings? As much as I'm sure you'd all like it, I can't post long chapters frequently. Anyway, THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO READS AND REVIEWS! I'm writing this rather than a few other things I feel more like writing because you all seem to enjoy it so much. Again, thanks for the support. Chapter 10 is already half-way done. Expect it soon. 


	10. Chapter 10

Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief

Chapter 10

* * *

Other students were already enjoying a lovely meal of lamb chops and potatoes when they sat. Neville had obviously been hungry, because he served himself a large helping of both, and downed a large glass of pumpkin juice to start his meal.

"So, Daisuke," Parvati began after serving herself modest portions, "What do you think of England?"

Everyone seemed to be always asking him that. Daisuke smiled fakely. "Well, I've only been here for one day, and I was on the train, but it looked very…." Daisuke struggled to find an appropriate word, other than "wet." "Very…nice."

Lavender smiled and nodded in a way that meant she was done participating in the fledgling conversation. She turned to her other side and suddenly noticed another friend.

"Cool." Parvati fiddled with her fork. "So why did you decide to transfer to Hogwarts?" she asked, glancing up at him from beneath her eyelashes.

"Um," said Daisuke. He had never actually considered _not _coming to Hogwarts. When his mother had told him he was supposed to go to a magical school in England, he had just gone along with the plan. He fingered the wand in his pocket absently. Yes, coming here had been the right decision, if one could count it as a decision at all.

Parvati must have assumed that she had stumped Daisuke with the wording of her English sentence or something, because she began to clarify. "I mean, why aren't you at your old school? Did you not like it there?"

"Oh no! Nothing like that!" Daisuke said hurriedly, waving his fork between them in denial. "I really liked my old school! Really! A lot." He put the fork down and smiled warmly at Parvati. "Actually, I got a letter attached to an owl, and it said that I should go to this school. So I did."

"Yeah, but you live in Germany. That's not exactly an easy commute," Parvati countered.

"But it came on an _owl_," Daisuke replied carefully, as if the fact that the invitation was sent by owl post was of some kind of significance to the discussion.

Parvati's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Doesn't all your mail?"

"Um, no," Daisuke said. "In fact, only the letter from school did." He did not really want to say how surprised he had been to find the bird.

"Wait, are you Muggle-born?" she asked suddenly.

"I beg your pardon?" Daisuke said smoothly, nailing a phrase he had spent months perfecting in seventh grade. He smiled to himself, and then stopped when he realized that grinning like an idiot was not something that usually accompanied a phrase like that.

"Are you parents Muggles?" she asked slowly.

"Oh, right." Daisuke thought for a moment, ate a mouthful of mashed potatoes, swallowed, and then looked back at Parvati. "My mom must be a witch, and my dad is…maybe a wizard."

Parvati looked even more confused than before. But as she opened her mouth, another voice called out.

"Daisuke!"

It was Ginny. She jogged up to his table, all smiles, and then sat down on the side opposite of Parvati. "Whew! I just had Charms, and apparently there's like, a million things we need to cover by the end of the year, so we all started practicing Banishing and Cheering Charms, and then everyone got super giddy and things were zipping all around the room!" She then started laughing so hard that she had to slide her plate out of the way before she collapsed on it. She coughed and then straightened up. "Sorry, it's just, I can't help smiling right now!"

Her smile was terribly infectious to Daisuke, though Parvati did not seem to approve. She busied herself cutting up her lamb chop.

"It was a good class, then?" Daisuke asked Ginny.

"Yeah," she said, nodding vigorously. "How was your morning? Oh, what did Professor Dumbledore want?"

"My morning was good." Daisuke took another bite of potatoes. "I had to pick up my wand," he explained.

"Oh, I think it wore off," Ginny said looking down at her empty plate. She spooned some mashed potatoes onto it, and took a huge bite. "Wat werf you shaying?" she asked.

Daisuke blinked, and then laughed. Ginny swallowed.

"I'm sorry. So, did you say you went to pick up your wand?" she asked again, now that she could enunciate clearly. Daisuke nodded. "Why didn't you have it before?"

"I never had one before," Daisuke answered.

"What did you do at your old school?" she asked, curious.

"We didn't use wands at my old school," he said, and then realized that that was undoubtedly unusual for this crowd.

Ginny looked puzzled. "Then how did you do magic?" She was laughing a little.

"Well, we didn't," Daisuke said, and heard a surprised cough from Parvati. "I went to a normal school before I came here." He smiled a little sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "That's why I'm so far behind everyone else. Heh heh."

"What!? Really?" Ginny asked, amazed and utterly surprised. "Then…everything about magic is completely new to you?" She leaned over so far that Daisuke had to lean back, but first he glanced behind him to make sure he would not hit Parvati and found her staring unabatedly with a spoonful of mashed potatoes halfway between her mouth and her plate.

"Um," said Daisuke, feeling like he was a little caught between a rock and a hard place, or maybe just two girls, neither of which being particularly desirable. He coughed a little, and Ginny leaned back with a mumbled apology. Parvati continued staring. "Well, a magic _school_ is a new concept," Daisuke continued. Ginny nodded firmly. "But I suppose I never lived like a normal, er, Muggle, anyway."

"What was it like?" Ginny asked. "My dad sometimes pretends he's a Muggle." Ginny seemed to ponder this inwardly for a moment.

Daisuke blinked, and Parvati smothered an impolite giggle. He decided it would be best to just answer her question.

"Er, I went to school like normal kids, but my mom and my grandpa were always doing weird things that seemed like magic in the basement. I only really figured out what they were up to last year." Daisuke remembered wearing the robes in the basement that fateful day when Risa had rejected his love letter and then Dark had appeared. Had it really been only one year ago?

"So, you've only been in the wizarding world for a year?"

Daisuke nodded, and then shook his head. Ginny looked puzzled. "I didn't find out about this school until a month or so ago. So I knew a few things about magic before then, but I wouldn't say that I've been in the wizarding world for a year. More like a month or so."

"Wow," said Ginny, taking another bite of food. "Then this is all really new to you."

Daisuke nodded, and during the lull in the conversation, he seized the opportunity to take a bite of food.

"Wait!" said Ginny suddenly, whirling to face him. "If that's the case, then why are you studying as if you're in your fourth year? I know more than you, and I'm only in my third year." She looked back at her food, on the verge of pouting.

"Er, I don't really know," said Daisuke. "Probably because I'm fourteen?" he hazarded a guess.

"Yeah, I guess." They ate in silence, and then Parvati mentioned that they should get going if they wanted to make it to the tower on time for class.

Daisuke pulled out a creased piece of parchment, and checked his schedule. "Is… Div..er, Divination in the tower?"

"Of course," Parvati said, smiling knowingly. She and Lavender exchanged a look. "Professor Trelawney likes having class there because it is above the normal range of human thoughts."

"It's easier for her to use her Inner Eye," Lavender explained.

"Oh, okay," Daisuke said, smiling and nodding although he really had no clue what they were going on about. He looked back down at his schedule. "Er, what about…History of Magic? Where's that?"

"Oh, we'll show you later," Parvati said, standing and looking prepared to leave. "We don't have History of Magic until tomorrow."

"Oh, well, I think I have it today," Daisuke stated, peering down at the folded piece of parchment.

Daisuke's schedule was suddenly snatched out of his hands by Parvati, Lavender, _and_ Ginny. They inspected it carefully with lots of hurried whispers, and then Ginny straightened up and shouted.

"OH! That's when _I_ have History of Magic!" She stood next to Daisuke. "Okay, I'll meet you at the base of the Divination tower after class and help you find your way to Professor Binn's classroom. Anyway, I have Transfiguration now, so I'll see you later!" Ginny hurriedly took a final drink of her juice, and then ran out of the rapidly emptying Great Hall.

His schedule reappeared in front of him. "Come on, we really should get going," Parvati explained. He nodded, put the paper back into his pocket, and followed the two girls out of the hall.

Several paintings greeted them as they made their way down a hallway, up a set of stairs, across a balcony, and down another hallway. They all seemed to already know Daisuke's name, which made him a little embarrassed. Lavender seemed to think it was funny, but Parvati seemed to think it was annoying.

"Your ears are even a little pink," noted Lavender, causing Daisuke to blush even more.

"Oi! _Daisuke_!"

Daisuke spun around and looked for the source of the voice. Whoever it had been, it had sounded like she had been in trouble. Other students were looking around as if they had heard it too, but could not quite tell where it had come from.

A black shape sped across the wall, and with a sudden flash of shining black scales, Seireth the Dragontamer arrived. Her dragon quickly landed and she dismounted, for it was obviously tired.

"Daisuke!" she called, and he was already moving towards the painting. Lavender and Parvati seemed to be immobile from shock, but their eyes were staring after him.

"Seireth! What's wrong?" Daisuke asked quietly. He put his hand forward and touched the canvas, as if it would help her explain her situation.

"I'm to give you a message, and I know you won't like it. Listen, this is simply a fact, and there is nothing you can do about it right now." Daisuke went still, and the petit figure in the painting seemed to hesitate. She took a breath and plunged ahead.

"Kokuyoku has awoken."

Daisuke's eyes widened and he gasped. "But…that would mean that…."

"Yes," Seireth answered, before he could finish the sentence. "It was Dark who sent me to deliver this message."

Hope bubbled in Daisuke as if this before-unimaginable happiness were the air filling up his lungs, and for a moment, he ceased to care about anything except one simple fact.

Dark had returned.

"Right now," Seireth continued, pulling Daisuke back into the present, "he's trying to find out who did it and why. But the important part of this message is—"

"Wait," Daisuke interrupted, still basking in the feeling of being able to see Dark again. _Wasn't Dark's return the point of the message?_ he thought and attempted to say in English. "Dark back is—"

"Hey! Daisuke!" Lavender shouted from the lowest step of a staircase. "If you don't come now, you'll be late for class!" She disappeared up and around a corner.

"Hurry it up! You want to make a good impression, right?" Parvati added, and because she was close to him, she grabbed his wrist and tugged him along. "You can make friends with the paintings later! Let's get a move on! Divination is _important_!"

"But—" Daisuke began, and his feet moved to keep him from falling. He took the first step up the stairs and looked to the walls. They were devoid of artwork. "Hey!" he yelled to Parvati, breaking his wrist free. "I talked!" (The sudden nature of the recent circumstances caused Daisuke's skills in English to fall dramatically.)

"Huh?" asked Parvati, continuing up the stairs. She looked back at him over her shoulder as she climbed higher. "Look, if you don't hurry, Daisuke, we're going to be late for class. And Divination is a very serious and interesting subject. You'll already be missing half of class so you can go to History of Magic, so you should make sure you're there for at least the start of it."

Daisuke blinked and followed her without thinking. He was trying to make sense of her suddenly convoluted English words, as well as what Seireth had been saying. Divination was interesting, but on the other hand, Dark was back, and he was trying to find whoever had awoken the Black Wings. But why wasn't Dark with Daisuke? Or better yet, why wasn't he _within_ him?

In fact, how was Dark doing anything at all, if he didn't have a body?

Daisuke noticed he was halfway up a ladder and about to pass through a trap door. "Keep moving!" Parvati hissed from below him.

Daisuke then entered the strangest classroom he had ever seen. The air was warm, and although normally that would be a good thing, this air also seemed stuffy, as if the windows had never been opened. Littered around the room were small, poofy chairs and beanbags, and it was a moment before Daisuke noticed that they were actually arranged around tiny tables. Students had either flopped lazily on a seat, or decided to sit in a proper fashion with their legs cramped uncomfortably close to their torsos. Gauzy strips of material hung down from the ceiling and across the windows, reminding Daisuke of the time he and his sixth grade class had turned their classroom into a gypsy tent for the school festival. Risa had used her tarot cards to tell fortunes while he and Takeshi had taken turns reading people their horoscopes out of a tattered and slightly burnt version of the local newspaper. (They had decided that the paper would look more like a gypsy paper if it looked old.)

"Here, sit next to us," said Parvati, pulling him to the front of the room where three beanbags of green, blue, and… bright orange were arranged around a round, black table. A lone stick of incense slowly let out a stream of grayish translucent smoke, as well as a powerful scent of lavender. (A/N: Lavender the plant, not the girl. One would be acceptable, and the other kind of creepy.)

No sooner had they sat down than the professor entered the room. She was thin, tall, and, Daisuke thought, looked surprisingly similar to a dragonfly. Her overlarge glasses helped the insect effect, as did the gauzy shawl draped over her shoulders (the wings) and the dark greenish-bluish dress that hung around her legs (the tail). All in all, it would have been a pretty stunning Halloween costume, had it been Halloween.

"My dear students," she began in a voice that attempted to quaver eerily, "welcome back to another year at Hogwarts. I have foreseen that your number would increase, and I would like to give _you_, Daisuke Niwa"—her face turned to him and Daisuke could not get over the feeling that he was being looked at by a very large praying mantis—"a very warm welcome indeed." She took a few steps closer, but they were very little steps, so she seemed to shuffle over as if she were indeed supported by six legs instead of two. "I wish I could tell you that you will find what you are searching for, my dear, but alas, it is not to be." She paused to take a deep, dramatic breath as the words echoed in Daisuke's brain. "I am…so sorry," she finished, putting her hand over her mouth.

Daisuke could not move. He had only just realized that he could search for Dark, that it was possible to meet Dark again, and now…prophecy stated that it was not to be. Dark would never find him, and he would never find Dark. He felt…empty.

"My dears, it is time for us to consider the stars. The movements of the planets and the mysterious portents they reveal…" the professor continued to the rest of the class in her whispery tones. Her voice seemed to fade out as Daisuke's thoughts swirled in his head, moving in downward in darkening spirals….

Parvati suddenly poked him, and Daisuke blinked. He looked around the room, realizing several minutes had passed. Professor Trelawney's eyes caught on Harry, who was sitting in the back of the room with Ron. Harry appeared to be doing the same thing that Daisuke had been doing—staring blankly into space.

"I am certain that you, my poor dear, were born under Saturn, and that is the cause of your misfortune…" she said tragically to Harry.

Harry did not seem to notice, so Ron whispered to him. Daisuke did not feel so bad about spacing out, now that he saw that other students were prone to doing the same thing. He noticed Neville in the back of the room, resting his head on his hand with his eyes half-closed.

"What?" asked Harry, looking up and turning red.

"I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn," she said airily.

"Born under—what, sorry?" Harry's brow wrinkled in confusion. Daisuke heard Parvati let out an exasperated breath.

"Saturn, dear, the planet Saturn! I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth…. Your dark hair…your mean stature…tragic losses so young in life…I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?"

There was a pause in the room, as Harry looked confused and then just bored.

"No, I was born in July," Harry responded with all the emotional response of a stone.

And suddenly, Daisuke perceived that this professor was simply acting. And now that he recognized this, it was incredibly obvious that all of her mannerisms were simply those that she had affected to fit the stereotype and play the part. She was no more a prophetess than Risa Harada was a gypsy woman.

Daisuke let out a breath he had not realized he had been holding, and felt a little silly. Even if her prophecies were true, he should not have assumed that he could not change his fate. That sort of thinking was exactly what had nearly killed Satoshi Hiwatari. And even if it turned out that he could not change his fate, there was no reason that justified him giving up his search for Dark.

Professor Trelawney handed out sheets of paper with concentric circles mapped out across them. Lavender and Parvati immediately began filling in littler circles between the rings, while Daisuke stared at his own blankly.

"Listen now," the professor's voice rang out in soft, mystical tones, "this chart is to show the alignment of the planets at your birth, so that you may understand what the fates have in store for you. For some of you," she continued, her eyes focusing on Harry, "this will be a heavy and almost painful task. For others," she called out, now looking around the room with her glasses flashing, "this will be an opening of the way, a new pathway that will lead you to a bright future. You need simply follow the precise movements of the heavens and write down where they were when you were born. For further instructions, please see page 56 of _Unfogging the Future_."

The girls pulled out their books, and then Parvati noticed that Daisuke was staring at his paper with concern and had one hand moving to be raised. "Oh, the professors have your books, don't they, Daisuke?" she said, leaning over to him. He nodded, and Parvati's hand flew into the air. "Professor!" The teacher's head snapped to look at them, and it seemed that she had been startled by the sudden cry. "Daisuke needs his book, Professor Trelawney."

"Oh, yes, of course, my dear," she responded coolly. She glided to her office, adjacent to the classroom, and then returned with a book. "This is for you," she said slowly to Daisuke, and he had the uncomfortable feeling that she was speaking unnecessarily slow because he was foreign.

"Thank you," he replied, taking the book from her hands.

"The headmaster," the professor began with careful enunciation, "put a…charm…on the book." She smiled encouragingly to Daisuke, who could only smile back and nod. "Take your wand…wand?" She produced her own, showing him. His smile growing more and more fake by the second, Daisuke followed along and pulled out his wand. "Tap..tap!" Trelawney mimed hitting the book with her wand, and then motioned for Dasiuke to do the same.

"Oh, yes, I know. That makes it translate," Daisuke said in his best English accent. "Thank you, professor." He hoped she would just let him study, and to his relief, she wandered off to a different section of the room.

Daisuke opened his book to page 56, and then examined his star chart. He pulled out a quill and dipped the nib into Parvati's ink after receiving her nod of approval. He wrote his name on his chart, and then looked at the pictures in the book, which showed astrological figures bouncing around and waving from the stars. The pictures in the book, although they moved, could not speak like the paintings in the halls.

He wished he had waited to hear what important news Seireth had been about to tell him. What if it were urgent? Then shouldn't he be out there, helping Dark? But then again, she had started her message with the statement that there was nothing he could do right now except listen to the message. Or perhaps he could try to think of people who would want Kokuyoku awoken.

There were very few people who knew of its existence. Hiwatari for one, but he would never do something stupid enough to risk letting Krad loose on himself. Hiwatari was really smart, after all. And Daisuke's family would never dream of messing things up like that. Besides, hadn't the Black Wings been sealed? That had been Dark's final act, right? Hiwatari's father had, unfortunately, passed away, so there was no chance that he had been the one to reawaken the artwork. Someone else?

Had it been an accident? It was the fault of someone who did not realize that the seal had been broken, who did not know that there even was a seal to break? That didn't sound right. The seal would have to be something stronger, something that would not fail accidentally.

Someone in class coughed loudly, and Daisuke realized that he had zoned out again, and several minutes had passed. He glanced around the room to see how far behind he was.

Parvati was dutifully dipping her nib into the ink. Lavender's brow wrinkled as she concentrated on her star chart, and then she suddenly squealed and started bouncing on her pouf. Her hand shot into the air. "Oh Professor, look! I think I've got an unaspected planet! Oooh, which one's that, Professor?"

"It is Uranus, my dear," answered the professor, gliding across the room to hover above their table.

"Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?" asked Ron from the back of the room. Lavender turned a very bright shade of pink, and shot Ron a pouty glare. Parvati smiled and nudged Lavender in the ribs. Daisuke felt a little clueless as several students laughed quietly.

"Er, isn't Uranus the same no matter where you are?" he asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

Somehow, the entire class seemed to hear him, and burst into sudden fits of giggles. Professor Trelawney did not seem to find it at all funny, but could not seem to get anyone to be quiet, except for Lavender and Parvati, who had begun to study as earnestly as possible. Daisuke looked around in confusion.

"Ron was making a joke," Parvati whispered without removing her eyes from her textbook.

Daisuke shrugged as the giggles died down, and after fruitlessly reading through a page, tapped it lightly with his wand and watched as "planet Neptune" became "Planeten Neptun."

After some time, Daisuke had managed to get an idea of what the solar system had looked like at the moment of his birth. He had filled in the inner planets when Parvati tapped him on the arm. When he looked up, she leaned closer.

"It's time for you to go to History of Magic," she whispered. She pointed to the trapdoor through which they had entered. "Ginny's probably waiting," she hissed quietly.

"Thank you," Daisuke whispered back with a smile. He had been so engrossed in the assignment that he had forgotten all about the time, not that he knew what time he was supposed to go to his next class.

He started to put his things away, and caught a glance from Professor Trelawney. She made her way to him as he stood up, much to the surprise of the other students. "Can you find your…go…to class…alone?" she asked slowly.

Daisuke nodded confidently. "A friend said she would help me," he answered as they walked to the end of the room with the trapdoor. The teacher held it open as Daisuke climbed down, and closed it with a thud as soon as he was out of the way.

Remembering that he still needed to find out what Seireth had to say, he ended up running down the stairs, which were deserted. He came around the curve in the staircase, and saw Ginny standing there, waiting.

"Oh, good," she said as a flash of black wings glittered behind her on the wall.

"Just a moment," Daisuke said assertively, stepping past the confused Ginny with a look of determination. He approached the painting that Seireth and her steed were currently occupying. "I'm sorry about earlier. What was the rest of the message?"

"It's Krad," Seireth answered directly. "He wants to kill you."

* * *

OooooOOOOooo... The plot thickens. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for your comments earlier concerning my question at the end of last chapter. Chapter 10's question is: Is there anyone there who wants to teach me basic German? By this, I mean that I'm looking for someone who can beta random German phrases for me. I don't know any German, at all, and so far I have been using online translators with a kind of unease. So, if you know German, and understand the following phrase (that I translated using Babelfish or something), could you please help me?

"Wo sein mein Magiekaninchen?"

I'm a stickler for grammar, so I want to know if I'm doing it right. A working knowledge of German slang (in general, it doesn't have to bu super up-to-date) would be highly appreciated.

On a completely different note, should I make it a point to keep all author's notes at the bottom of the page? Or did you enjoy the note about lavender/Lavender? Anyway, please let me know and feel free to comment about anything else. Lastly, please review! I LOVE CRITIQUES! I absolutely ADORE them! And if you have any questions, or if you spot any typos or grammatical incorrectness, let me know. Find the weak spots and help me get better!

Thanks for your continued patronage,

Tobi Tortue


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N: First of all, I would like to thank The Angelic Demoness because she forced me to write this. Seriously, you should all go thank her too, because she deprived me of food until I wrote a few pages. You would not have this chapter without her constant nagging._

_Secondly, I'd like to thank Merkitten and Kanna-chii because they are excellent people because they helped me with the German that appears in this chapter. I actually don't know any German beyond "Danke" and "Nein". And thank you to meeresstern1983, who has agreed to help me and is now in charge of German slang! Hooray for nice people! _

_Thirdly, I'd like to thank anja-chan, who once again helped by betaing. You should all go show your support for these wonderful people by checking out their stories and reviewing or something. But now, enjoy a chapter the chapter I've put together for all 59 of you who have added this to your Story Alert Subscription, as well as those who have favorited this story, and those who are reading it for the first time.  
_

_ Thanks. _

* * *

Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief 

Chapter 11

* * *

Satoshi stepped out of the cab, paid the driver a few euros, and then walked up the steps of the Berlin Museum of Art as the car drove away. He adjusted his glasses and looked around at the tall brick complex of buildings, thinking back to the last time he had been here. He went through the double doors just as an older woman exited, and she held the door for him, giving him a kindly smile. She probably assumed that he was a middle school student, doing some sort of childish research project, an idea that could hardly be further from the truth. 

The light filtered into the grand lobby through high stained-glass windows, creating a dim colored pattern on the tiled floor. Satoshi walked up to the front desk and the librarian-looking woman there.

"Kannst Du mir einen Schülerausweis zeigen?"she asked expectantly, looking for his student ID. Her red lips curved in a smile.

"Nein," Satoshi answered smoothly. "_I'm here to speak to the Head Curator."_He returned her expectant look with the ease of practiced command.

She was surprised, and pulled out a small notepad. Her brow crinkled and Satoshi knew she was about to go through the usual I-don't-think-the-curator-has-time-to-speak-to-young-children line. Satoshi was sick of that line, and he was also in a hurry. She opened her mouth.

"Ich bin Satoshi Hiwatari," he stated, pushing up his glasses with a finger. "_The curator is expecting me_."

She paused, and then opened the notepad. He watched as her brown eyes scanned the list, and caught on what had to be his name. Satoshi had to give her some credit then, because she hardly stuttered when she redirected him to a back room where he could meet with the curator.

"Danke," Satoshi said with a nod as he slipped through the doorway.

Across the room, sitting at a large desk of beautiful, ornately-carved, dark wood, was the Head Curator of the Berlin Museum of Art, Albrecht Putzkammer. He was a stout little man, slightly balding, and with an old man's sense of style. He wore a brown suit made entirely of tweed, but it was exactly what one might picture the curator of a large museum to be wearing.

He looked startled at Satoshi's sudden appearance, and he shot to his feet. "Ah, Herr Hivatari," he said, stumbling over the pronunciation of Satoshi's last name. He smiled obsequiously with his hands clasped together.

Satoshi remained impassive. "Mr. Putzkammer," he said, keeping his tone strictly civil. "_You know why I am here_," he told the man bluntly. "Die Schwarze-Flügel?" He could not help how his tone turned a little darker at the mention of the artwork.

Putzkammer visibly stiffened. _"Ah, yes, that…was quite strange…"_ he blathered.

"_It was taken, wasn't it?"_ Satoshi stated, more than asked, his German coming out hard and clipped.

"_Actually, only the sheet covering it was removed,"_ Putzkammer said in surprise. He waited for Satoshi's response after his initial reaction of widening eyes and a slight intake of breath.

"_Give me the keys to the chamber,"_ Satoshi commanded, holding out his hand. Immediately, the man pulled the hefty ring of keys out of his pocket and tossed it into Satoshi's palm. Satoshi decided that he needed to see the art for himself, to determine whether anything was indeed stolen.

The simple fact that someone had been there but had not seemed to touch the actual artwork was highly unsettling. It implied that someone knew that there was no need to steal the physical object in order to take what made the art truly precious….

Satoshi turned on his heel and strode from the room.

After passing through several galleries and down three flights of stairs, Satoshi finally came to a locked door. The hallway he was in was less like an art museum than any other area, with steel gray walls, horrible fluorescent lighting, and absolutely no art.

He unlocked the door, flicked on the lights, and walked down the long flight of steps. The bottom was wreathed in darkness, and there were two locks.

Satoshi unlocked the door and stepped through it quickly. Satoshi's hand fumbled along the wall for a light switch, and when his fingers caught on the smooth plastic, he flipped the switch. There was a slight buzzing, and then a few clicks as the lights flickered to life. Here the hallway turned a corner, and stairs continued downward in a dark spiral.

Satoshi continued downward.

He knew exactly where he would find the Black Wings, even though he had only been to the hidden chamber once, to hide the artwork there. Even so, he probably would not have had any trouble even if he had kept the lights off.

Satoshi came to the final locked door. This one had not only three different locks that required different keys, but a sophisticated keypad that required an ID code and a fingerprint scan. If Satoshi had gotten things entirely his way, the door would have also required a retinal scan—and the last one would have only keyed to Satoshi's right eye.

He produced the appropriate three keys and punched in the master ID code, which would tell him if anyone had entered using the normal code. No one had, or even attempted to. Satoshi pressed the index finger of his left hand onto the fingerprint pad. The small screen lit up and then turned green.

The door swung open with a hydraulic hiss, and Satoshi Hiwatari stepped inside a large, circular room.

The ceiling was high and disappeared into airy blackness. Lights, placed around the edges of the room, slowly brightened and shone onto the great mass of art. Kokuyoku…released from its chains, freed from the thick white sheets that normally kept it hidden away.

Fear crept into Satoshi's heart like a deadly and paralyzing poison.

The artwork was empty.

Satoshi's legs trembled and he felt nauseous as he sensed the lack of life in the art. This meant that Krad was loose somehow. Satoshi's mind whirred as he tried to imagine how this could have happened. It was silly to think that Dark had freed the two of them. It would take an outside force, but no one had used the door. There were no other entrances, and the entire room was deep underground. _How could this have happened?_

Satoshi tried to slow down his breathing, which he had suddenly realized was rapid and shallow. The hollow shape of the skeletal art loomed over him oppressively.

Satoshi suddenly heard the ominous thud of the door slamming shut. He whirled around as the lights suddenly dimmed.

Satoshi suddenly realized his mistake. It was all a trap. And he had just literally walked into it.

He heard a few loud cracks and jumped down into a defensive crouch. Dark, robed shapes appeared around the Black Wings, each springing into existence with another loud crack until Satoshi was completely surrounded.

Something like this had never been suspected in Satoshi's plans. He wondered how something like this was even possible, even given the proximity of the magical Black Wings.

And then the worst happened.

There was a flash of bright light, and a burst of white feathers. Satoshi felt his heart stop for a moment, and then continue in a rapid and irregular beat. The silken feathers cascaded to the ground, revealing the angelic form within.

He was still tall, blond, and amazingly beautiful. His golden eyes slid across the room almost lazily and he considered Satoshi with a fierce and feral curve to his lips. He took a step forward, the tap of his white boot echoing around the silent room, and Satoshi fell back. His worst fear was being realized.

Krad laughed, his voice coming out rich and full, as it had in Satoshi's nightmares for most of his life. The terrible angel threw his head back and his long hair rippled in golden waves.

"Dear Satoshi," Krad said mockingly in his cold, aristocratic English, "how good it is to see you again." He grinned like a wolf, displaying his white teeth.

Satoshi felt himself begin to shake. He _hated_ Krad. His brow wrinkled in anger as he realized his own stupidity and carelessness was the reason this was happening. Satoshi was trapped here, with the worst possible scenario not only playing out in front of him, but taunting him as it did so.

But no, this was not the worst possible scenario. In fact, Satoshi realized, this was far better than before. What had made Krad so dangerous and so unnerving had been the fact that he had lived _inside_ Satoshi. But there he was, standing across the room, with no access to Satoshi's mind. And this gave Satoshi an advantage, because he was sure of one important fact.

Satoshi was smarter than Krad.

"So, this is indeed the boy?" asked a voice in, surprisingly enough, English. It was British English, and the accent almost matched Krad's.

"Yes," Krad replied, his cruel smile widening. "Take him."

Satoshi bolted at Krad's last words. He dodged under the arms of one of the robed figures, wishing for the first time in his life that he was more athletic. But if he could just make it to the door…

"_Stupefy!"_ yelled a voice, and Satoshi felt a sudden stiffening in his left leg. He tripped as the entire leg froze up and the feeling spread quickly to the rest of his body. In the next instant, before he hit the floor, Satoshi's mind receded into unconsciousness.

* * *

He awoke with his body stiff and cramped. His chest and the side of his face were very cold, and it did not take him very long to discover why. He was resting on cold, bare stone. When he opened his eyes, he blinked rapidly several times before realizing that the room was completely dark. Satoshi sat up carefully, and was surprised that he had no real pain or bruises. As far as he could tell, his glasses were not even broken. 

Whatever they had used to stun him had not left his body in poor shape. He wondered exactly what they had used, to cause his leg to seize up. Who were those people anyway? How had they gotten inside the room? They had simply appeared. And how had they managed to free Krad and allow him physical movement without using Satoshi?

His eyes must have been gradually adjusting, because he began to perceive the faint bluish outline of his arms and legs, and a corner of the room. The cell—for that was what he actually decided it had to be—was larger than he had thought a cell should be. Not that he was complaining.

In fact, he was quite content with his current surroundings. First of all, there was no sign of Krad, neither in his mind nor in the cell. Not even a feather, and for that, Satoshi was thankful. But what was even more, he was not bound or shackled to a wall. And he had not been beaten or whipped. Although admittedly it was too soon to tell, Satoshi assumed that there would be no interrogation.

After all, he reasoned, if Krad was a part of their group, why would they need access to Satoshi's secrets? Krad knew them all anyway.

Then what was it all about? At least Satoshi was sure that Dark was free as well. He had not sensed any life within Kokuyoku. He knew that as much as he could count on Krad to cause chaos and destruction, he could count on Dark to try to put it all to right. He hoped that Dark had been able to find his way to Daisuke.

Or perhaps Dark was not free, or at least not free in the sense used by regular people. Yes, the phantom thief was undoubtedly no longer locked within the Black Wings, but that did not necessarily mean that he was free. Satoshi was not locked in the strange artwork, and he was certainly not free. What if they had Dark in some kind of physical body like they had Krad? He might be easily locked in. Well, maybe not _easily_, the former commander of the Dark-catching forces thought with a slight smile. But what if they had trapped Daisuke in a cell too? Satoshi resisted the urge to call out to see if that were the case. If they were not regarding Dark or Daisuke as threats at the moment, then it would not help for Satoshi to alert them to that potential threat. Also, if Daisuke had been taken captive, then knowing that they had captured Satoshi as well would only lower the boy's spirits.

Satoshi stood carefully, making sure that he had enough room to stand, and then walked to a wall. He might as well begin examining the cell, checking to see if there was any way he could break free. He doubted that there would be something, but it was worth a look. He mind continued whirring as he patted the walls and ran his fingertips across the cold stones and flaky mortar.

He wished he had been paying more attention. He should have thought out his moves beforehand, so that he at least would have had a plan when he realized the Black Wings was empty. He should not have left the door. At the very least, he should have not gone down entirely alone, and should have carried a walkie-talkie.

He had been foolish, but also preoccupied.

Satoshi had to admit that he had been more interested in what he had been researching before coming to Berlin. The mysterious letter he had found in the old London apartment still vexed him. How had it gotten there? What did it really mean? But he had not been focused on what was now obviously the more important issue: the release of Dark and Krad. The possible existence of a magical school in England had caught his attention, but he had made it a priority when he should not have.

Without warning, the cell was flooded with light as the door was pulled roughly open. Satoshi stepped back from the wall, his right hand flying up to shield his eyes.

"Anything funny, and it's more than a stunning spell for you," said a woman's voice. Satoshi lowered his hand, and saw a stout woman in black robes standing in the doorway. She held a thin, carved piece of wood in her hand, pointed at him as if it were some kind of weapon. Her hair was dark and most of it was tied back. He estimated her age to be somewhere in the twenties.

She eyed him carefully as she stepped back and motioned him out with the stick. Satoshi hesitated, and then took a few steps to the door.

_WHAM!_

Satoshi felt as if he'd just walked into a brick wall. He put his hand to his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut as the woman broke out into a guttural laugh. It was not pretty. Tears leaked out of the corners of Satoshi's eyes, but he ignored them. He had never been good at hiding physical pain, but he had always been able to detach from the pain to continue thinking clearly.

Satoshi put his hand out in front of him and pressed against the invisible barrier. He placed his other palm flat against it, and found it to be quite solid. The woman stopped laughing, and waved the wooden stick. At once Satoshi felt the barrier disappear.

He looked down at his hands to hide his racing thoughts from the woman. Could it be…_a magic wand?_

"Hurry up," the woman told him nastily. Another flick of the stick and Satoshi could have sworn that someone had just pushed him from behind. He took a few running steps to avoid falling, and the woman laughed again, short and thick. "We really haven't got all day…" she said, stepping behind him into a position that also meant "move forward."

The hallway was dark, and also made of thick pieces of stone. He forced his mind to wander away from what it must mean for the floor to be so worn that the floor was lower in the center than at the walls. They reached a doorway, but before Satoshi was even ten paces from it, the woman muttered something and the door flew open, the wood trembling on its iron hinges.

Beyond it were steps leading upwards. Torches flared to life as they came near, and the woman laughed again as Satoshi jumped back at the first violent flash of flames. He knew that what she held had to be a magic wand, capable of at least creating invisible barriers, moving things from afar, and lighting fires, but probably more.

At last they reached another door, and it swung open, revealing a well-lit and richly furnished room. Satoshi stepped onto the thick green carpet, followed closely by the woman with the wand. Unlike the…dungeon, this room was lit by normal electricity. It seemed to be the mansion of some European family with old money, and a tendency towards the occult. One of the statuettes on a dark, antique-looking bureau was the likeness of a misshapen man, melting into a ring of short creatures that looked like demons. The other statuettes were of similarly disturbing beasts in poses of readiness to pounce. Even worse, Satoshi could feel a dark power emanating from them.

The curtains were of a shade of dark green, similar to the carpet, but were adorned on the edges with silver and black. There was a low table and a few comfortable-looking velvet chairs. The entire room was darkly beautiful, and gave Satoshi the feeling he assumed he would have if ever he entered Dracula's castle.

Outside, it was night, and no moon could be seen.

"This way," the woman said, jerking the wand toward his right and a large, black door. Satoshi did as he was told, and moved towards the door.

Unlike the other doors, this one remained closed until she reached a hand over Satoshi's shoulder and knocked thrice.

The door groaned as it opened inward, revealing yet another tasteful room. It was obvious, however, that whoever had decorated this room was quite different from whoever had decorated the last one.

The walls were a creamy white and the carpet was somehow a golden lavender. The door opened further, and Satoshi saw the broad golden curtains, draped artfully beside the large window. There was a large fireplace on one end of the room, and the bricks were a deep tan. The lighting in this room was low and warm, and came from a lamp in the corner, a low, flickering fire in the fireplace, and several tall, gold and silver candles along the top of a cabinet of lightly stained wood. A long mirror was placed behind the candles, reflecting each bright stream of flame across the room and reducing the trembling of the flames into a steady glow.

Satoshi knew whose room this was. The obvious and artistic creams, whites, and golds could belong to none other than Krad. At the very least, Satoshi had to admire the terrible angel's artistic senses.

Krad himself, however, was not in the room. Satoshi let out the breath he had not realized he had been holding.

The woman prodded Satoshi in the back with her wand, moving him to the center of the room. There was only one chair, and Satoshi knew better than to try to sit in it. He turned to study the woman under the ambient light.

Her eyes were hazel, or brown, and there was something about her appearance that led him to believe she had not really wanted to fetch Satoshi from the dungeon, or at least that she had been unprepared to do so. Satoshi suppressed a smile; she wore absolutely no make-up and there were dark circles under her eyes. She glared at him as he inspected her, but he ignored the look and remained impassive behind his large glasses. Her robe was indeed black, and Satoshi wondered if he really should think of it as a robe, or if it was more like a cloak. The clasp of the garment was embossed with a snake entwined around a large C.

Suddenly the woman's lips twisted into a smirk. "You have no idea what's in store for you, do you, little boy?" She sneered down at him, probably hoping to get some kind of reaction. He wondered if in fact _she_ knew what was in store for him.

Satoshi remained calm, aware of how irritating his captor found his demeanor. But after entering the golden room, he had been practically assured that Krad was in charge of the entire ordeal. He doubted that the living art would let any harm come to him. It might, after all, be painful or dangerous to Krad if Satoshi were subjected to some kind of horrible treatment. It was highly unlikely that Krad had any idea if or how they remained connected on a physical level.

Suddenly another door flew open, and Krad entered the room with a flurry of white and gold robes. He strode in, smiled at Satoshi like a hungry animal, and then set himself down comfortably into the golden chair so that one of his legs hung off one arm of the chair, and his long hair draped over the other.

"Morista," Krad said, addressing the woman, "bring the Animus Extractum." He watched Satoshi's face as he said the words, his golden eyes glinting in the firelight.

Satoshi's brow wrinkled. He knew that Krad wanted him to ponder exactly what an "Animus Extractum" might be, and to pay careful attention to the horrifying things it might be able to do. Satoshi forced his muscles to remain relaxed, so he at least appeared to be unfazed by Krad's attempt to unnerve him.

Morista nodded, her nasty smirk returning, and left the room through the door they had entered. Satoshi was now alone in the room with the one being he hated above all others.

"So…" Krad began lazily, "I suppose you want to know what I am going to do with you, now that I have caught you." He tossed his head to rearrange his long bangs. It was an imperious gesture, and one that meant that Krad knew he was entirely in control of the situation. "And it was so_easy_ to catch you, Satoshi. Did you know that? It was _simple_, because all I had to do was leak a little to the press, and the little detective would come running. You're like a little hound once you've caught the scent, but this time you did not realize that you had come after bigger game. _Tsk tsk,_ Satoshi," Krad said in his voice like velvet, swinging a finger side to side as if teaching a child a lesson. "You should learn to be more careful…or, as I should say, _you should have learned to be more careful._"

Krad threw his head back and laughed then, the rich tones curling at the ends, turning something potentially beautiful into a monstrosity. When he snapped his head level, his eyes seemed to be glowing, reflecting the firelight like they were eyes into Hell itself. His smile was feral, and Satoshi watched the room become significantly darker. Krad's presence filled the entire room as he leaned forward, the fire now reflecting off his face and hair in bloodied tones. It was disturbing and entrancing, and it looked as if Krad had never seemed so alive and yet so far past death.

"I say this because you do not have much longer to learn, Satoshi," Krad whispered wickedly. "Soon, very soon, you will be _mine_ again." Satoshi took an involuntary breath but remained impassive as he heard the utterly possessive tone of that cruel voice. "Oh, do not look so frightened, dear Satoshi," Krad continued in a mocking tone, his smile pretending to fade into a pout, although his eyes retained the same wild fire as before. "It is not as if you will notice when I have you. I will have your physical self, yes, but your soul…well, your soul will always belong only to you, won't it?"

Satoshi could feel himself nodding. Even though they may have shared a body, it was always clear that in fact they had separate souls. Separate desires and separate feelings. Satoshi's face darkened. Separate feelings, that is, if Krad had ever had feelings at all.

"I simply have to separate your soul from your body."

Satoshi felt his insides to turn ice. He knew that his face did not show any sign of fear, but he also knew that Krad was well aware of what went on behind his mask of detached calm. Having his soul separated from his body was not something he wanted. He would prefer to die before he let Krad have control over his body, and he was surprisingly prepared to do such a task. He had nearly done so once before.

"You see, Satoshi, I think that only your body will do for me." Krad continued his monologue, and held up a hand in front of him, as if it required inspection. "This body is not…capable enough. It does not withstand the things I demand from it."

"Mine did not either," Satoshi cut in with a harsh voice, the icy tinge of fear becoming rapidly replaced with anger.

Krad gave a short laugh as he dropped his hand. "I suppose you might think that, but your existence today proves that you are wrong. You survived, didn't you? For_ years_. This body, right here, will only last me a few more hours before it dies. This body is weak. I am so…constrained. But, these bodies have served me well enough, at least until I got my hands on you."

Satoshi knew he did not want to know where Krad's current and previous bodies came from, but he had the horrible feeling that he was about to hear. His eyes narrowed when Krad opened his mouth.

"I suppose you want to know how I managed to find spare bodies, or…no, I suppose you don't." Krad smiled again, probably because he knew that he was getting under Satoshi's skin. Obviously, he wished to stay there, both figuratively and literally. "Nevertheless, I will tell you: there is this wonderful device, known as the Animus Extractum. It can pull souls from within their bodies, and it can even put souls into new bodies." Krad was sickeningly enthusiastic about this, and Satoshi felt the last of his fear melt away as he began calculating Krad's imminent demise.

"However," Krad continued, "there is only one problem. You see, Satoshi, the Animus Extractum can only carry one soul at a time. This means that it has to discard a soul before it can remove the next one. And it is your soul that will be discarded, so that mine can be removed from this body. Then, my soul will be placed into your newly soulless body, and all will be well.

"Except your soul will have been discarded, and you will cease to exist."

And suddenly, the fear was back.

Three knocks suddenly sounded on the door behind Satoshi. He whirled around as the door swung open, revealing Morista. He quickly schooled his expression back to the façade of calm. She was carrying what looked like a dark bowl filled with blackness. She held it carefully, as if it were heavy and its contents were dangerous.

Now, while her hands were full, whispered a part of Satoshi's mind. And he bolted for the door.

He flung the door open and raced through the room with the green carpet. He heard a roar from Krad that sounded like a command. Satoshi did not dare to glance behind as he pulled open the next door and ran through it.

He dodged around the great table in the center of the room, and nearly fell down as a chair next to him exploded. He steadied himself against the navy blue of the wall as he saw Morista aim the wand towards him. "_Flagrate!"_she shrieked. Satoshi's eyes opened wide and he dove behind another chair as a jet of fire streaked through the air, mimicking the swish of her wand.

The chair burst into flames and Satoshi scrambled to his feet. A flash of white feathers appeared in corner of Satoshi's vision as he viciously opened the next door and lunged through it. He veered right as the doorframe erupted and showered him with bits of wood and flakes of paint.

Satoshi continued running down a hallway, and came upon a broad balcony and a flight of wide stairs. His breath came raggedly and his heart was pounding. He seemed to have found some kind of entry hall.

"Get back here, boy!" shouted Morista, and more unintelligible words flew from her lips, followed by flares of red light. Satoshi ran madly like a rabbit, dodging right and left, keeping his movements random but heading for the stairs.

A portion of the balcony crumbled, and then the carpet just to Satoshi's left caught suddenly on fire. He jumped to the stairs, and almost fell down them. His ankle twisted painfully, but he continued down, skipping as many steps as possible. Ahead seemed to be large doors, hopefully leading outside.

Satoshi reached the marble floor at the base of the stairs. He skidded and his ankle protested against the sudden change of direction as Satoshi attempted the final sprint across open ground to the door.

"_Colloportus!"_ screamed Morista, and he no longer heard her heavy footsteps behind him. The doors trembled, and Satoshi could hear a sound similar to a bolt being drawn across the door or a lock clicking into place.

Satoshi hardly slowed as he came to the door, his hands finding the doorknob and twisting as his frail body slammed into the heavy wood. But the knob would not turn.

He turned his eyes back to his attacker as she walked slowly down the stairs, and noticed that her wand was pointing not quite at him, but at the door. Had she magically sealed him inside the manor? His eyes darted to the sides, checking for alternate escape routes. The windows? Perhaps he could find the back door? He had so far been able to outrun Morista, and he was fairly confident that the adrenaline and his practiced detachment would keep him from feeling his injured ankle.

But it was too late. Krad appeared at the top of the stairs, clad in his white robes and white wings. Satoshi cursed inwardly, realizing that there was no way he would be able to outrun Krad if the artwork had manifested his wings and therefore the powers of flight and explosive feathers.

"Satoshi! Your left!" hissed a nearby, familiar voice. Satoshi turned, and suddenly perceived his salvation.

A small, framed landscape of a countryside in fall hung on the wall dark brick wall. Most of the frame, however, was taken up by a tanned face and bright purple eyes. Strands of dark purple hair licked the sides of his face, blowing gently in a breeze that Satoshi could not feel. The man in the painting moved, revealing shoulders clad in black and feathery black wings.

It was Phantom Thief Dark, and he was holding out his hand.

"Hurry!" cried the thief, looking behind Satoshi to the stairs, where Krad was waiting to steal his body.

Satoshi lunged to the painting, and pressed his hand into the canvas, feeling the warmth of Dark's hand close around his, pulling him forward and into the autumn scene.

Dark smiled mischievously as he set Satoshi on his feet. "We'd better hurry out of here, or Krad will find some way to follow us." As usual, the Phantom Thief's tone was serious, but at the same time light-hearted.

Satoshi heard an echoing gasp from somewhere outside the painting, and Dark spread his black wings. He seemed to smile easily at the boy who had once put his every effort into trying to capture the thief. He opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly his demeanor changed. His eyes narrowed and he pulled Satoshi protectively into his arms. Satoshi yelped as he was forced to put too much weight onto his twisted ankle.

"I can see him! He's inside the painting!" Morista's voice echoed around the hillside as if she were a part of it.

"Time to go!" Dark said, holding Satoshi tightly as he lifted off from the ground, beating his wings heavily.

"_I SAID_ _NO PAINTINGS_!" Krad's voice was a scream from every corner of the painted world, coming out in a terrifying mix of rage and frustration. There was a crash and tinkling as something broke and shattered.

Krad howled in fury and Satoshi _felt_ him beat against the painting, as Dark carried him into the sky and suddenly into a slightly different sky over a slightly different field. The air shifted, and they were speeding over a forested hillside.

The wordless cry of anger faded as Satoshi and Dark fled across landscape after landscape, leaving the deadly angel as far behind as possible.

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...Ahem. I'm sorry for the horrifically long wait. Truly, truly, sorry. However, since I was in so much trouble, I will try to post more frequently. I hope you enjoyed, and I would love to hear reviews! By the way, please tell me if I have over-done Krad. He is hands-down my favorite bishie, which means that I tend to spaz out when describing him. If it's overkill, PLEASE let me know. I will tone it down if you insist. And what do you think of the tone of this chapter? Much different from sweet and slightly dumb Daisuke, but things are picking up. And don't worry, Daisuke's in the next chapter. Thanks for reading! 


	12. Chapter 12

This one is for Karen, who wrote me a review this morning in the form of "Get your butt into gear!" Thanks. ' Actually, I've just come back from a personal ban of because I had the biggest test of my life last weekend. And some of you may understand me when I say proudly say that I am an HB. Woot for Pony Club.

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Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief

Chapter 12

"Just a moment," Daisuke said assertively, stepping past the confused Ginny with a look of determination. He approached the painting that Seireth and her steed were currently occupying. "I'm sorry about earlier. What was the rest of the message?"

"It's Krad," Seireth answered directly. "He wants to kill you."

He heard Ginny's sudden and violent intake of breath behind him, the only warning before she latched herself onto his arm. Daisuke's eyes widened at the message, but the rest of him remained perfectly still. The three stayed motionless for a moment, Seireth holding Daisuke with her gaze and Ginny holding Daisuke's arm tightly between her hands.

"I don't mean to alarm you, Daisuke," the Dragontamer said, her voice softening. "However, Dark believes that it is important that you are at least warned. Be on your guard." She paused for a moment, letting her words sink in.

"What are you talking about?" Ginny suddenly demanded imperiously, dropping Daisuke's arm. The boy suddenly realized that she had not grabbed his appendage in fear of the death threat, but protectively, as an answer to a threat from an unknown source. Ginny was standing next to him, almost in front of him.

"This does not really concern you," Seireth responded smoothly, her gaze turning from Daisuke to the red-haired girl. "This was in fact a message intended for Daisuke. If he wishes to explain its meaning, he may, but that decision is his, and not mine."

"Er, Ginny," Daisuke began, smiling nervously. She looked at him, giving him a look that said she did not want to hear any excuses or attempts to denigrate the circumstances. Daisuke attempted to laugh, but the sound came out too breathy and too high, so he cut it off short. Besides, Ginny had just narrowed her eyes, telling him nonverbally that she was seeing right through his little façade.

"Um," Daisuke began again, wishing that he were smarter. He did not really want to drag Ginny into what was undoubtedly a mess, but he could not think of a way to leave her out of it and tell her everything at the same time. He wondered what Hiwatari would do in this sort of situation, hoping that it might give him some kind of clue. But he needed some time to think. So he would try to put the explanation off until later. "Um, don't we have to go to class?" he queried, hoping that Ginny would be as excited about History of Magic as Parvati and Lavender had been about Divination.

No such luck.

"Daisuke, I want to know exactly who this Krad person is, and then I want you to come with me so we can find Professor McGonagall and tell her what this is all about." Her tone left no room for arguments. Daisuke looked away, and his attention focused on the Dragontamer, who seemed to be waiting to see if Daisuke would indeed tell the girl. He tried to give Seireth a particularly hard stare, hoping that she would think of some official reason, true or not, for why he could not tell Ginny. Ginny gave a short cough, bringing back his attention. When his eyes finally returned to her, she folded her arms, and waited for Daisuke's answer.

The hallways were clearing of other students and noise, making Daisuke feel more and more uncomfortable. He knew he would feel terrible if something happened to Ginny because he had told her about his problems. Really, it was something he was supposed to worry about, and generally keep to himself.

"Er," Daisuke started, his smile fading. He made a decision and then looked directly at Ginny's feet. "I'm sorry, Ginny, but I think it might be too dangerous to tell you, and I don't think you should get inv—"

"_Locomotor Daisuke!" _hissed Ginny suddenly, flicking her wand at Daisuke and then towards the ceiling.

Daisuke let out a yell as he quite suddenly found himself jerked into the air and then turned upside-down. His robes fell down around his head of spiky hair, making it suddenly quite impossible to see. He struggled and tried to push the black material away from his face, to no avail.

"Verflucht, verflixt, verdammt noch mal! Ginny!" he yelled in frustration, slipping into German in surprise. He hoped she would let him down, and wondered at the same time why she had suddenly turned on him.

"Don't you think you're a little naïve to be lecturing me about dangers?" Ginny asked, and to his relief there was no hint of malice in her voice, only mischief. "I think it's fair to say that you want my help," the girl told him, and then he suddenly felt his body receive a mildly rough shake.

"Verflixt! Okay, I get it!" The blood was beginning to rush to his head, and he still couldn't see anything. Daisuke suddenly felt himself righted, and he shoved the robes into place as he was released from the spell about a foot off the floor. He glanced around to see if anyone else were around, and fortunately saw no one but a frumpy-looking cat staring directly at him with an expression like mirth. Then he caught Seireth with her hands plastered over her mouth to keep from laughing. Daisuke could feel how his face was horribly red, and not entirely from the physics of being held upside-down, but rather from the embarrassment of it.

"So?" Ginny asked, and to Daisuke's chagrin, her wand was still at the ready.

"Er, about what Seireth said," the boy began slowly. Ginny motioned him to come closer, and as he did she leaned against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor. Daisuke did the same next to her, letting out a long breath as he sat down. Ginny might indeed prove to be a valuable asset in the upcoming battle against Krad. It was probably wise to have as many friends as possible helping him. Like how Riku and Risa had teamed up with Mio Hio to help. With that thought firmly in his mind, Daisuke attempted to describe the situation to Ginny.

"Well, Krad is like…." Daisuke struggled for the appropriate words, feeling like his English was woefully inadequate. "Krad is…not my friend," he stated resolutely. He cocked his head at Ginny. "In fact, once he tried to…control a friend of mine," Daisuke continued, thinking of Satoshi. Ginny was nodding. "Er, Krad is a painting."

The girl suddenly stopped nodding, and gave Daisuke a strange look. "If he's a painting, Daisuke, then how is he possibly a threat?"

"Oh, well he's not, like, actually, a _real_ painting," Daisuke explained, suppressing the urge to laugh nervously. "He's a living painting, and sometimes he used to control my friend." Daisuke could tell that something was not really coming across in the way he intended.

Ginny's face wrinkled as she tried to grasp what he was saying. "What do you mean by a living painting?"

"Er…" Daisuke started, trailing off because he was not really sure how to explain that, especially in a foreign language. "I mean that a long time ago, someone painted a picture, and then Krad came out of the picture and started controlling people." Daisuke grimaced at Ginny, and for a moment, their faces seemed to be mirroring each other.

The witch turned away suddenly, and leaned her head back against the wall. "What do you mean he came out of the picture?" She stared up at the ceiling.

"He, well, came out of it, and into a person." Even to Daisuke, it sounded incomprehensible.

Ginny rolled her head along the wall to look at him levelly. "Daisuke, that doesn't sound possible."

"But it's magic!" he countered hopelessly.

"What's this?" cackled an unfamiliar voice from somewhere down the hallway. "Students skipping class?"

"Darn, it's Filch!" Ginny hissed, jumping to her feet. She hauled Daisuke up and started dragging him down the hallway at a run. "If he catches us, there's no chance we'll get to the bottom of this!"

"Huh?" Daisuke managed as they took a sharp left and began racing down a flight of stairs.

"We'll get detention for sure, and Filch won't listen to any kind of excuse!" the witch explained when they reached the bottom of the stairs. She finally let go of his wrist, and pointed down a hallway on their right. "Hurry! This way!"

They ran past suits of armor and walls full of portraits, always going down whatever stairs they came to. Fortunately, it seemed like every magical item in the castle was on their side and ready to point their pursuer, whoever it was, in the wrong direction. Finally they reached a wide hallway with doors on either side.

"In here," Ginny said, reaching to open the door. "Quiet now…." She slowly pushed the door open, and Daisuke was surprised to see that the room led to the back of a classroom. Ginny walked in soundlessly, to the smiles and questioning looks of her classmates. She motioned Daisuke to follow, and he did, squeezing behind the other students to sit at an empty desk with Ginny.

And then his eyes moved to the front of the room, where he saw the teacher, who appeared to be transparent. Daisuke blinked several times, and then realized that he actually _could_ see the blackboard behind the teacher, and that the teacher _did_ have a silvery glow to him. His voice was horribly monotonous, even more so than Azumano's 7th grade math teacher, who was famous for putting students to sleep. Daisuke noticed that several of the students by the windows were actually already sleeping, even though class could not have started more than ten minutes ago and it was the first day of school.

He glanced at Ginny as she pulled out a book, a roll of parchment, and a quill pen. She smiled and shoved the book to the space in between them.

"We'll share for now," she whispered. Daisuke nodded, and then gave a quick glance at the teacher, hoping that Ginny had caught the movement of his eyes. Her brow wrinkled, and then she started nodding. "Oh, Professor Binns is a ghost, but he's still reeaaallly boring. He's the History of Magic teacher, so…well, I feel sorry for you having to take four years of this at once," Ginny said quietly, unrolling her parchment and beginning to take notes.

Daisuke looked over at the ghostly teacher, and sighed.

"… covering the goblin rebellions and the founding of the Ministry of Magic…."

A student began to snore, and was rudely awakened by the fellow sitting next to him.

"… beginning in 1052, the goblins began reconstructing the tribes they had previous to the 1040…."

Not even a ghost makes history class interesting? Daisuke had never cared too much for history classes, except maybe the history sections in art… or things having to do with the cultural reformation, but that was because the cultural reformation had been important… like the story of _Ice and Dark_… and Freedert and Elliot's love…. _That_ was important stuff…. Daisuke wondered how Riku was doing. They had really only been apart for two days, but it felt like a lot longer.

He decided that when he got back to his dorm, he would write her a letter. He should probably warn her about Krad, too. If Krad wanted to make Daisuke a target, then both the Harada twins were probably targets. And come to think of it, had something already happened to Hiwatari? If Krad were already on the loose… then Hiwatari might already be….

He decided that in his letter to Riku, he would ask her to check on Hiwatari for him. Yes, that would be good, because then he would not feel silly for sending a letter to Hiwatari. And that way his letter to Riku would be longer. He was pretty sure that Riku would be happily surprised if he sent her a big fat letter, right off the bat. Daisuke smiled to himself, as he imagined her opening her mailbox, then squealing with delight when she saw that she had a letter from Daisuke. Then she would race inside, and Risa would probably be jealous, but he would make sure to add a little sheet of paper inside that would be for Risa so she would not feel too bad, and then Riku would run up to her room and sit on her bed and read it. Maybe she would read it aloud, but to herself. Or maybe it would be like in the movies, and she would imagine Daisuke's voice, reading it aloud to her. He nodded to himself. Definitely the second option, where she would imagine his voice, especially when she got to the end. _P.S. I love you…._

"… and the ruling wizards were undecided on the matter, so they went before the wizarding community in the first democratic vote in 1162…."

Daisuke opened his eyes as the teacher's droning voice clashed with his daydream. Ginny was leaning her cheek on one hand, her eyelids only half open. Another student had fallen asleep, and the boy right in front of Daisuke was snoring softly. Daisuke grimaced, and looked up at the teacher with determination to pay attention. It was hard to sit in the back _and_ pay attention _and_ understand the monotone English, but he would give it his best effort.

He looked to see if anyone else were giving it his or her best effort. Well, maybe Ginny was… but she was not doing so well. Perhaps she was worn down after years of this same thing. Daisuke wondered how many wizard teachers there were and what the qualifications for such a job were. Maybe no one liked to teach magical history. But no, that could not be right, because there were plenty of people who liked to teach normal history, and were excited about it. And magical history was bound to be more interesting. Or perhaps it was less interesting to magical people. Maybe they thought that non-magical history was more interesting. Daisuke remembered how Ginny said that sometimes her dad liked to pretend to be a Muggle. It was probably true that wizards found Muggles interesting, just like Muggles found wizards interesting. Not that most Muggles knew about wizards and magical stuff….

"…but the goblin tribes wished to overrule the decision made by the first wizarding council…."

Daisuke straightened, remembering his pledge to put forth his best effort to pay attention. He had been spacing out again. When it was exam time, he knew he would have to reread his textbook for this class. Well, at least he knew he could study with Ginny. Maybe they could make a pact to help each other stay awake in class. He glanced at the girl again, and saw her eyelids droop shut for a moment, before fluttering back to half-awake.

He surreptitiously poked her on the side of her arm. She lifted her head off her hand in surprise, and gave Daisuke a questioning look.

He shook his head, and then pointed at the book with an encouraging smile. She exhaled and rolled her eyes. But she finished the gesture by turning a few pages in the book and looking at the teacher. She even wrote something down.

A few moments later, she passed the parchment to Daisuke, and he saw, to his disappointment, that it had nothing to do with what the ghost was saying. Well, the heading was _History of Magic: Goblins 1000-1200._ But whatever was beneath it was obviously a message to Daisuke, and not some random fact that was in any way related to goblins, or the time period mentioned. He sighed.

_Try explaining Krad better, ok?_

Ginny kept her eyes on the ghost behind the desk at the front of the room as she passed her quill to him. She even blinked and nodded. Daisuke took the quill and then looked down at the paper. After a few moments, he began. Once he thought about it, he realized that putting it on paper was probably better than trying to explain it out loud. After all, he was a pretty good artist and pictures had no language barriers.

First, he drew Krad's face. He captured the narrow eyes, the sinister grin, and the long lines of hair. Then he drew an arrow pointing at the face, and wrote _KRAD_. Next was a picture of Dark, with his mischievous eyes, cocky smile, and messy bangs. He drew an arrow and labeled the face _DARK_. Around the two faces he drew a frame, and then labeled the frame as_DIE SHWARZE-FLÜGEL (THE BLACK WINGS)._ Daisuke paused for a moment, and Ginny leaned over, obviously more interested in what he was drawing than what the teacher was saying. He could not blame her.

Ginny drew back with a look of amazement, and gave him a thumbs-up under the desk after pointing at the two faces. She thought he was a good artist. Daisuke looked away, hoping he could avoid turning into a tomato. He still got embarrassed when people complimented him. When he glanced back, Ginny was studying the drawing, looking puzzled. Daisuke held up the quill, and she motioned for him to continue.

Daisuke then inked a man sitting in front of canvas, painting. This was _HIKARI_, and next to it was a roguish-looking fellow that somehow ended up also looking like a ninja, which he called _NIWA._ Then Daisuke was stumped.

How does one draw a soul? How was he supposed to capture the image of Dark's soul? Of Krad's? Perhaps words worked well after all….

He then drew an arrow between the picture frame and the canvas in front of the artist. He labeled the Niwa ninja as _THIEF_. He added _ART_ in front of _THIEF_. Then he paused again. This was so difficult to explain!

He looked at Ginny to see if she was following along. She was smiling, and admiring his drawing. She pointed at the Niwa ninja-art-thief. Then her finger moved to point at Daisuke. She must have remembered that his last name was Niwa. Oh, she probably thought that _he_ was the ninja-art-thief. But then again, Daisuke _had_ done a lot of thieving in the past year, when Dark was around….

He smiled uncomfortably. Perhaps this would be easiest when he could draw _and_talk…. He looked back down at the drawing.

He added stars and swirls around the Hikari artist, and then just wrote _WIZARD_ next to him. Ginny nodded to show that she understood what was going on. She pointed at Dark, and Daisuke held up a finger, asking her to wait a moment. Things had to go in a chronological order here, or else it would all get confused.

Underneath it all, Daisuke wrote a few sentences.

_Hikari is painting Die Schwarze-Flügel. He is putting life into it. Niwa steals Die Schwarze-Flügel. Die Schwarze-Flügel breaks up and becomes Dark and Krad. Niwa and Hikari are cursed._

Daisuke reread his handiwork, and then added, _And their children are cursed, too._

This time when Ginny pointed at him, he nodded vigorously. Ginny bit her lower lip and looked sympathetic. She also looked very concerned, as if Daisuke were about to drop dead any minute. Daisuke shook his head, and smiled, pointing at the picture of Dark.

There was no way that he could think of Dark as a bad curse. Especially not when there was a chance of seeing him again. Especially not now.

Ginny shook her head to signify that she did not understand how Dark was a reasonable response to her worry about the curse, and pointed at the sentence:_He is putting life into it._ She gave him her "you are confusing me" look.

Daisuke looked at the sentence, and wondered if he could draw something like that. Probably not. He had listened to Dark talk about it, sure, but he doubted he could make an intelligible picture out of it.

So he was left with trying to tell her what happened in English words.

_Hikari is making the picture be able to move. Life makes it move. He is giving D.S-F. a soul._

Ginny looked alarmed at the last word and grabbed the quill back.

_not possible,_ she wrote quickly. She slid parchment back to Daisuke, and tossed the quill on top. Clearly she did not believe that what he was saying was true.

Daisuke nodded insistently, keeping his eyes locked onto Ginny's as he tapped the parchment with the drawings.

"…they, however, were defeated in late 1163, when the wizard council, now led by Orbificus IV…" Binns droned on, turning Daisuke's brain into a static puddle.

He shook his head to clear it, and looked carefully at his drawings. Under the heading_History of Magic: Goblins 1000-1200_, Dark and Krad were in a picture frame, which was above an artist painting something and a guy in black. Underneath it were a few sentences, and then Ginny's _not possible_. No wonder she had trouble understanding what was going on.

Daisuke shook his head at Ginny, underlined the part about the soul, and then wrote, _MAGIC_. Ginny gave him a flat look, as if she meant that he could not use magic as an excuse for everything. Daisuke only blinked back. Perhaps he was misreading her.

Daisuke looked down at the page again, and then suddenly bells were echoing around the room. Students stood up (although some were only waking up), and put their school things away. Ginny grabbed her book and then hurriedly rolled up the piece of parchment with a small but stern nod to Daisuke. He was glad that she understood that things like that should not be left lying about where anyone could see.

"Um, I need to get my book, so I'll be right back," Daisuke told her before making his way to the front of the room. He was moving completely against traffic, and the other students were giving him odd looks, probably because they had no idea who he was and he was taller with outrageously spiky red hair. He smiled and for the most part ignored them.

"Excuse me," Daisuke said when he reached the front desk. The teacher had just turned around and looked to be about to make an exit through the blackboard. The silvery apparition rotated back to face Daisuke. "I, um, I'm Daisuke Niwa. I'm here for my textbook?"

"Yes," Professor Binns said in the same tone he had used throughout class. "It's on the desk." Without another word, he turned back to the blackboard and sailed cleanly through it.

Daisuke stared after the teacher, vaguely wondering if that was what it had looked like when he had entered platform 9 ¾. He shook his head slightly and then looked down at the desk. Right in front of him was an ancient-looking book. He picked it up, and supposed that the look of the leather-bound object fit the subject matter.

"What are you doing?" asked Ginny, who seemed to be suddenly standing right behind him.

"Ah!" Diasuke yelled, dropping the book. "Oh, um, nevermind…" he covered, bending to pick up the fallen textbook as Ginny started laughing.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She pressed her lips together in an attempt to look more contrite, and then looked curiously towards the book. "What's that for?"

"Um, this is for me. My teachers have all of my textbooks. When I tap them with my wand, they turn to German," Daisuke explained as he went back to his desk to collect his two other books from Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. (The Herbology book and the dragonhide gloves were kept in the greenhouses.)

"Oh," Ginny answered, picking up her own stack of school supplies. She followed him and waited in a kind of pensive silence as the last few students filed out of the room. She closed the door behind the last one, and then faced Daisuke. "So, what was all this about anyway?" she asked, unrolling the piece of parchment.

"A long time ago," Daisuke began, remembering when they had gone through their fairy-tale unit in English class, " a man, er, a _wizard_ named Hikari painted, er, was painting a magical work of art." He looked over at Ginny to check if she understood, and she nodded. "Um," Daisuke began again, and then he gestured for Ginny to put the parchment on the desk in front of him so he could point at it. "Right, so this is Hikari. And this is, um, a Niwa person. One of my, uh, great-grandfathers? No, before that."

"Your ancestor?" Ginny asked. Daisuke blinked a few times at the unfamiliar word. "Like your great-great-great-great-grandfather or something?"

"Yes," Daisuke said resolutely. "So, Hikari is painting, and Niwa, not me but my_ancestor_, is an art thief."

"Yeah, I got that already. Your drawings are really good," Ginny complimented. He got the feeling that she wanted him to move on.

"Okay, so Hikari is bringing the art to life. It's really difficult, you see, and Niwa could not wait until he was done, or maybe he thought that Hikari was done, so he tried to steal it then." Daisuke suddenly realized that perhaps he did not quite understand the matter so well. In his defense, he had not been there, and the person he knew who had been there, had been in the process of being born at the time. "Um, so everything got messed up. And that's why there's a curse."

"And about this curse," Ginny said in concern, "is there any way to break it? Or stop it?"

"Well, it's not really that kind of curse," Daisuke answered, suddenly realizing that he probably had to tell her that he was Phantom Thief Dark, or at least had been the thief last year. He wondered if that would go over well. But what if she told other people? He could not let the entire world know that he was Phantom Thief Dark, because then they would probably try to arrest him. Even though he was not Dark anymore.

"What does the curse_do_?" Ginny asked, giving Daisuke a strange look. He had probably been letting his thoughts all over his face again.

"It's a secret," he told her firmly. He simply could not tell her that he was Phantom Thief Dark. Maybe he could tell her that Dark was his friend? Right. Dark's face was already scribbled onto the parchment anyway, and talking about Dark was vital to understanding Krad.

"Daisuke? Do you remember what happened in the hallway earlier? The last time you didn't want to tell me something?" Ginny said, looking away and pulling her wand from her pocket.

The boy faltered, and swallowed, his eyes catching on the thin piece of wood. "Er, no, I remember." He sighed and sat down in his chair. Ginny sat across from him, backwards in a chair, but with the air of a general strategizing for the next battle with the parchment between them like it was some kind of map. "Okay, so Dark is like a friend of mine," he said, and then realized that Ginny had asked him about the curse, and she did not know that the curse was Dark. She gave him a flat stare, and then looked back at the parchment.

"This guy?" she asked, pointing.

"Yeah, that's Dark. He's, um, wait, have you ever heard of Dark before?" he asked, realizing that Dark actually kept most of his thieving raids to places on the European continent. And although he was well-known in the Muggle world, he may not be so well known in the wizarding one.

"Um…" Ginny said, her eyes rolling to the ceiling as she thought. "Maybe, is he some kind of celebrity or something?"

"Er, no not really, but that's okay," Dasisuke covered. He wondered if he should lie about what Dark's profession really was, but then, if he did, didn't that sound like he didn't approve of Dark's work? Because he knew that what Dark did was good work, but most people just would not understand because they would think he was crazy if he told them that some art was magical and that it could come to life and it had to be sealed away so it did not harm normal people.

But Ginny already knew about magic, and she obviously knew that not all magical things were good things. In fact, she seemed to be highly suspicious of certain magical things, like hearing whispers and talking about curses.

"Hello, Earth to Daisuke, talk to me," Ginny said, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Dark takes bad art and seals it away so it can't harm people," Daisuke said suddenly, and then felt his face redden.

"Okay, but what does this have to do with anything else?" Ginny asked gently.

"Right, well, Dark is art. He's part of this thing, see?" Daisuke said, pointing at the line he had drawn around Dark and Krad and labeled _DIE SCHWARZE-FLÜGEL_. "And Krad," Daisuke continued, his explanation speeding up, "Krad is too. Together, they are Die Shwarze-Flügel. But a long time ago, when my, er, ancestor came, they split apart. And well, that um, made Krad very angry? But Dark's really nice. He's been a friend of my family ever since then." He looked at Ginny in a way that signaled that he had finished his explanation.

"Like, they were a couple?" Ginny asked, confused. Then suddenly she leaned forward. "Wait, is Krad gay?"

"What? No." Daisuke answered, shaking his head so that the tips of his red bangs flipped across his forehead. "They used to be the same person."

"But you also said Krad is a painting. Is he a gay painting?" Ginny persisted.

"No, he's, well…" Diasuke suddenly realized he did not know the fearsome artwork's sexual orientation, and then he caught the mischievous look on Ginny's face. "I have no idea if he's interested in men or not," he finished lamely. Ginny smirked, and then shook her head.

"Daisuke, I just need to know what's important, and why Krad wants to kill you," she said, and Daisuke realized that he had made his explanation far more complicated than he really needed to.

He nodded slowly. "Ginny, this kind of thing is something that you have to promise not to tell anyone," he told her carefully. She nodded solemnly. "Okay." Daisuke took a deep breath. "Last year, Dark and I had to fight against Krad. We won, but in the process, both Dark and Krad were sealed away inside the physical part of Die Schwarze-Flügel. My best guess is that Krad wants to get rid of me so that he can do what he wanted to do last year." He looked sideways over at Ginny across the desk.

"Okay," she said slowly. Her brow furrowed, and she pushed back a strand of red hair behind her ear. "So, what did he want to do?" Her voice had dropped to a conspiratorial whisper.

"Um." Daisuke considered her question. "I'm not really sure."

Ginny blinked in disbelief. She half-stood and put her hands on the desk to lean over it. "Then why did you stop him?"

"Well, bad things were happening," Daisuke defended. His mind reached back to that time, hoping to give Ginny a clear example of the problems he and Dark had staved off. "Well, for one thing Krad was controlling a friend of mine," Daisuke said, thinking of Hiwatari. He really hoped that Hiwatari was okay.

Ginny gave him a skeptical look, and then suddenly stopped. "Like an imperious curse or something?"

"Er, I don't really know what that is."

"Okay, so he was doing bad things, so you and your friend Dark, who has some kind of connection to Krad, went to stop him. When you locked up Krad, Dark got locked up too, probably because of this connection. So now Krad is free, and he wants revenge. And you got a message from Dark, because he got freed too, and he's on your side." Ginny's summary was amazingly accurate.

"Right," he said, a little stunned.

"Okay, so, what should we do?" she continued, moving into action mode now that story-time was over.

"Well, I just have to be on my guard, you know. And watch out for Krad in case he comes to kill me." It sounded simple, and it was. But it also sounded too simple. Daisuke realized that he lacked any kind of plan at all.

"And when he attacks?" Ginny pressed, and it seemed obvious that she had already known he had no plan.

"Then…I don't know." He glanced at Ginny, and then realized that he did not want her to worry too much, and his answer had been an extreme cause for worry. "I'll think of something," he assured her.

"Yeah, and I'll help." Ginny stood and rolled up the parchment, giving Daisuke a smile.

"Thanks," he answered, realizing that he was actually very lucky that Ginny wanted to help. He doubted that many students would want to become entangled in the confusion that Krad, Dark, and Daisuke now had around them, especially when a failure to be wary probably meant death. And also when it seemed as if Daisuke was not being particularly wary.

"But Ginny," Daisuke said as the girl turned to the door of the classroom. He stood and walked until he was standing beside her. He looked her in the eyes and did not let her look away. "All of this is a secret. Krad is very dangerous. If he finds out that anyone else knows what is going on, he might want to kill them too. That's why I did not want to tell you—to protect you from Krad."

She hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. "Unless it becomes too dangerous for us to handle on our own, Daisuke. If that happens, we are going straight to Dumbledore. Deal?" She held out her hand.

"Right." Daisuke shook her hand firmly, sealing their pact.

* * *

Anyway, I am SOOO sorry for having this take so long. I've had about nine pages of it finished since December, but then the rest of my life suddenly happened. Anyway, thank you to everyone who reviewed, and continues to stick with me through all this despite the horribly long waits. And now you all know that dropping me a review or something that says "Hey you! Don't drop off the face of the Earth!" actually works to get me going. Indeed, guilt-tripping works. I love all of you, and hearing from you, so don't hesitate to whine or yell at me, because it's not like I'd do anything back except... maybe... hurry up and finish the next chapter?

Seriously, though, since I've gotten in the habit of asking you your opinions, now we might just up the ante a little and make it into a challenge. There will be two independent ones, but I suppose you could answer and win both if you were really special.

1. Whoever leaves me the harshest, most in-depth critique will win special kudos and a preview of the next chapter (once I have the first half or so written). Yes, this is almost an invitation to flame me. However, it is not, because only people who actually bring up good points have a shot at winning.

2. Whoever can correctly guess why Satoshi is a prince (metaphorically) wins. You probably would also have to tell me what that would make Krad. And you would win...well, something really really good, because this is really tricky. (anja-chan and Angelic Demoness, you two are exempt from attempting to win this. Sorry.)

...And if anyone likes Death Note, I've got a story going about that and all... please read AfterLife, as well as the version of AfterLife written by anja-chan. Actually, read hers first. :)

Wow, that was a really long Author's Note. Well, see you next time.


	13. Chapter 13

Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief

Chapter 13

* * *

Daisuke eyed the piece of parchment Ginny thrust into his hand. On it was what seemed to be a very comprehensive list of spells Daisuke should be familiar with if he wanted to be sure he could protect himself from Krad.

He unrolled the parchment a bit further, and then a bit more, and to his surprise saw that the list continued for nearly a meter.

"Ginny! This is ridiculous! You can't possibly think that I'll be able to memorize these in week! Or a month!" he hissed, trying to keep quiet because they were in the Gryffindor common room, and other people were trying to study.

"Nonsense," she retorted, opening yet another book they had borrowed from the library. "Those are all rather simple spells. Every fourth year should probably know those anyway." She flipped a few pages in the old tome, and then traced her finger across a line, continuing in a whisper. "Besides, that's only the beginning. But we'd need to get into the restricted section to get better spells."

Daisuke stared at her in shock. The incredibly long list in his hands was only the beginning? He looked at the top of the list.

_Lumos/Nox_

_Alohomora/Colloportus_

_Summoning/Banishing Charm_

_Impediment Jinx_

_Intruder Charm_

_Jelly Curses_

_Bat-Bogey Hex_

"You'd better take care to pay special attention in Defense Against the Dark Arts," Ginny said absentmindedly, copying down another spell.

Daisuke thought it was unfair that black magic was referred to as "Dark Art", because to him "Dark Art" meant the phantom thief. He hoped Ginny had yet to make the connection, and would not think less of Daisuke or Dark because of it. At any rate, he knew she was right, and he was looking forward to his first Defense class with determination.

"What's this?" came a voice as the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open and a familiar trio of students entered. "Ginny… studying?"

"Oh, Ron," Hermione interjected. "There's nothing wrong with studying. You don't have to make fun because she's doing what she ought to."

Ginny rolled her eyes sarcastically at Ron as he attempted to look as if he were above the petty encounter, and it was at that moment that Daisuke perceived they were siblings. In fact, Ron had undoubtedly been among the bunch he had seen at King's Cross Station, traveling into the brick wall known as Platform 9 and ¾. It suddenly seemed weird that he had met Ron's mother.

"Honestly," Hermione intoned disdainfully, brushing past Ron and giving Ginny a very serious look. "_I_ think it's a good thing to be studying already. It means you won't get behind, unlike _someone_ we know," she continued, eyeing Ron as he turned to complain to Harry about the horrible and ridiculous characteristics of the feminine gender.

"I'm just helping Daisuke get caught up, that's all," Ginny replied, smiling and leaning over the book on her lap to hide whatever complicated magic she was investigating from Hermione's view.

Hermione turned to Daisuke and seemed to be studying him very closely. He rolled up the parchment with the spells Ginny had suggested, keeping a smile plastered onto his face. After a moment, Hermione relaxed, and promised him that if he needed help with anything, she was offering.

"Oh, that's okay," he said easily, glancing quickly at Ginny. "Ginny's helping, and it's really not that much…." He didn't want anyone else getting involved with Krad and endangering themselves. Besides, Hermione seemed like the kind of girl who was more concerned with grades and studying, and less with practical aspects of fighting against evil paintings. Then again, it was likely that no one here had every thought that knowing how to defend one's self from an evil painting was a practical skill. It just happened to be an unfortunate fact of Daisuke's life that such a skill was not only practical, but rather necessary at present.

Hermione announced that she was off to the girls' dormitory, and leaving Ron and Harry to their own devices. The two boys gave a wave to Daisuke and Ginny, and then hurried up the stairs to their dormitory.

Ginny shook her head, causing her red-auburn hair to swing gently back and forth in the firelight. With a pang, Daisuke realized he hadn't written his letter to Riku yet. In fact, he hadn't even started composing it (except when he had nearly been dozing off in History of Magic), despite it already being rather late. After History of Magic, Ginny had helped him with his homework (though Parvati had appeared to help him with the convoluted assignment for Divination), and then they had gone off to the library so Ginny could hunt down some good spells. Daisuke had ended up as pretty much a book-carrier while the younger girl had monkeyed around on the sliding ladders and retrieved old-looking, leather-bound books. When they had finally gotten back to the common room, it was nearly curfew, and it seemed like every Gryffindor was in the common room, welcoming the first years and Daisuke. After a short party where Ginny's older twin brothers tried to convince everyone to eat strange candy, he and Ginny had retreated to the corner where they now sat, trying to come up with some good anti-Krad measures.

Daisuke yawned, and decided that he had better start the letter to Riku before he got too tired. He quickly rolled up the list of spells Ginny had given him, and then pulled out a fresh piece of parchment. Ginny lifted her face from her book and raised an eyebrow.

"I need to write a letter," Daisuke explained, scratching the back of his head. It would sound silly to tell Ginny that he was writing a letter to his girlfriend… especially when they were trying to think of a way to protect themselves from Krad. But Riku had to know about Krad, because Krad knew she was involved already. In fact, something could have already happened to her! The boy let out an involuntary gasp at the thought, and wished for a cell phone more fervently than ever. It'd be nice to hear her voice, to be reassured that she was safe….

"Daisuke?"

He opened his eyes, realizing belatedly that he had been wishing everything was okay so hard that he had closed them. Ginny was staring at him with an expression similar to the one she had given him earlier in the day, when he had confessed he had heard voices in the walls.

"Is everything okay?" she asked carefully.

"Oh, it's fine," he said back, trying to avoid laughing in a nervous fashion. "It's just, I remembered about this letter, and, well, the person that I'm sending it to, I was just worried for a second that maybe Krad…." Daisuke trailed off, unable to really complete the thought.

Ginny's brows wrinkled together. "Is Krad a threat to this person? Who is it?"

"Er, maybe. She helped us fight against Krad." Daisuke picked up his quill and dipped it into the pot of ink that Ginny was using.

"Oh," the girl replied, sitting back. "She's a friend of yours?"

"She's… uh, she's my girlfriend," Daisuke confessed, hoping Ginny wouldn't make fun of him for writing love letters (or saving the one he had received).

Ginny looked genuinely surprised. "Your girlfriend?" she asked, a little louder than necessary. She blinked a few times, and then shrugged, and went back to reading the book. Daisuke relaxed, and Ginny was so calm that he almost didn't notice her next question.

"Is she pretty?"

Daisuke had already written _"Dear Riku,"_ at the top of the page, and it took several moments for Ginny's query to register.

He blushed. "Yes," he mumbled.

"Is she smart?" Ginny continued, still looking at her book and asking the question in the same tone she'd use to ask about the weather.

"Yes," Daisuke answered, feeling his ears grow hot. He tried to concentrate. _Dear Riku, I had my first day of classes…._

"Is she a witch?" the girl next to him persisted nonchalantly.

"Er, no." He looked over at Ginny, who was still looking at the book. If she hadn't been asking him questions, he would have assumed she was completely unaware of his presence.

"Do you want to marry her?"

"What?!" Daisuke yelled, and was immediately shushed by the other students in the common room. "I'm only fourteen!" he hissed indignantly, even as images of Riku in a beautiful white wedding dress leapt unbidden into his mind. But he finally saw the mischievous smile on Ginny's face, and realized she was only teasing him.

She tried to smother her laugh, but some of it leaked out. "It's just…" she tried, but was overcome by a few coughs that weren't exactly coughs. She cleared her throat and grinned at him. "That was too funny."

"No it wasn't," he insisted, and went back to composing his letter as his friend went back to looking up spells.

_Dear Riku,_

_I had my first day of classes today. They are all very exciting, and everyone here seems to be very nice. I should tell you about how the school works, because boarding school is very different from Azumano!_

_Last night, after arriving by train, I took a boat across the lake to the school grounds. (The school is a castle, by the way.) Anyway, it was very wet, but then we got inside the castle. It's very beautiful, and the architecture is very neat. And the ceiling in the Great Hall (where we have meals) is enchanted! It looks just like the sky outside, so when I had dinner last night, there was lightning and dark clouds, and this morning it was a swirling gray. Also last night, I was sorted into one of the houses. I'm in Gryffindor house, which I think is known for having brave people in it. I think Dark (and probably you) are braver than me, though. But I have lots of friends in Gryffindor house already. We just had a party earlier this evening, to celebrate the first day of classes and that everyone is back from summer vacation. And there are paintings everywhere in the castle and guess what? They ALL move! They all talk and move from painting to painting. I guess there's more magical art out there than we thought. But don't worry, because all of the paintings here are really nice and really helpful. They gave me directions to class this morning so I wouldn't get lost._

_Let me tell you about my classes. First, I had Herbology, and we learned about these really disgusting plants. __They looked like _

Daisuke stopped suddenly, and put a line through the sentence he had just begun. Riku didn't really need to know what the Bubotubers had looked like.

_ My next class was Care of Magical Creatures. We have a project this year of learning how to care for Blast-Ended Skrewts. Apparently there are a lot of magical creatures in the world that non-magic people (Muggles) don't even know about! I hope that class is fun. __The Skrewts are _

Again, Daisuke thought better of continuing a sentence. He drew a line over the three words, swallowing as images of the the slimy, slithery creatures crawled through his brain. Riku didn't really need to know what the Skrewts were, either.

_Maybe I can learn more about taking care of Wiz. After lunch I had Divination, which your sister would like, because it's about reading the future. Then I had History of Magic, which is taught by a ghost! It was really difficult to understand, though. But I think my English is improving already._

_I have something important to tell you, Riku. Today I received a message from Dark. I know it doesn't sound possible, but I want you to be careful. The message was that Krad is on the loose. You should warn Risa and Hiwatari as well. My guess is that someone undid Dark's seal on the Black Wings. You should ask Hiwatari if he can look into it, if he isn't already. Be careful, because I don't want anything to happen to you. Hopefully Krad won't even think to go looking for you, but just in case, you should make whatever precautions you can. Don't worry about me though, I'm learning magic and have an entire castle of wizards and witches to protect me._

_I hope everything is going well for you at school and elsewhere. Tell everyone at school I said hi._

_Love,_

_Daisuke_

_P.S. Riku, I love you!_

Daisuke looked over the letter proudly, checking for any spelling mistakes. Finding none (that he was aware of), he folded the parchment up to envelope size, and placed it safely on top of a book. He had better get a letter written to Risa as well, or she'd feel left out. And his parents! Daisuke certainly had to write to them to keep them updated on the situation. But chances were that if Dark had gotten a message to Seireth, he had managed to contact his family, perhaps through other artwork, like Towa. He could probably safely assume that his parents had already been contacted. They were, he supposed, as important to Dark as they were to him. They were Dark's family, too.

He decided that only a short note to Risa was in order, and he pulled out another roll of parchment as Ginny raised her eyebrows quizzically.

"She has a sister," Daisuke explained quietly, dipping the quill into Ginny's inkpot once more. Ginny shook her head slightly with a queer smile, and turned back to the books. It seemed she was not going to bother him until he was done.

_Dear Risa,_

_School is nice, although I think you would like my Divination class more than I do so far. I think that later this year we are going to study tarot cards. I suppose I should have given your readings of my fortune more credit than I have so far. Anyway, as you will undoubtedly hear from Riku, someone has freed Dark and Krad. Be careful, and if you can, try to make sure Hiwatari knows this too. I don't think Krad has any reason to come after either you or your sister, but it's best to be safe. Just keep an eye out, okay?_

_Otherwise, I hope all is going well for you in Germany. Give Wiz some shelter and maybe some strawberries, and if it's not too much trouble, please let him spend the night with you._

_Sincerely,_

_Daisuke Niwa_

He reread the letter, and then folded it up and placed it on top of the other one. He would put them in an envelope when he got back up to his dormitory, and then send them off with Wiz the next morning. With a deep breath, he turned to Ginny. "Okay, done with letters," he said, trying to show her he was ready to participate and learn to defend himself against Krad.

Ginny leaned back and folded her arms across her chest. "Alright then," she said, grinning mischievously. She closed the book in front of her with a soft but sharp snap, and then addressed the red-haired boy in a low voice. "I think I've got a pretty good list there of basic spells you should know in case of an attack," she started, gesturing towards the list that lay rolled-up next to his foot. "Actually, if we want a really effective strategy, it should be one where we take into account our strong and weak points, as well as Krad's. I'm pretty good at jinxes and the like, but I don't know anything about Krad, you see? And even though a lot of these books are about magical art, I can't understand half of what it's about, and the half I do doesn't seem to be relevant." She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, and then stretched and rolled her shoulders, yawning. "Wow, I'm beat after all that. I don't think I've every spent the first day of classes studying that much."

"Er, you can go to sleep if you want," Daisuke began hesitantly, trying to be polite.

"No way!" she replied quickly, her smile still wide despite her tired eyes. "We have to have a plan, even if it's just the basics of one. What if Krad came here tonight?"

Daisuke had to admit she had a point. If Krad appeared here tonight… well, he wasn't sure he'd be much more prepared tomorrow, but….

"Okay, so you want to know about Krad's strengths and weaknesses?" he asked, being sure to keep his voice low enough so the few other students still reading or sitting quietly by the fire wouldn't hear him.

She answered with a short nod, her green eyes focusing on him.

"Well," Daisuke began thoughtfully, trying to remember what he knew about Krad that could be useful. "Krad… well, I think he pretty much has the same powers as Dark." It was true that they were both pieces of a whole. And they both resided within tamers. At least under normal circumstances. Which this wasn't.

He heard Ginny send a heavy sigh his way. "Daisuke, that doesn't tell me anything." She gave him a pointed look. "I don't know anything about this Dark person, either."

"Oh, right. Well, Dark… and Krad can fly. And they both can influence art, I suppose, to a certain extent." Daisuke paused to think about what exactly Dark was capable of. It was strange, because when he had been Dark, everything that before would have seemed entirely extraordinary had seemed so natural. Things like flying, defending or attacking with feathers, slipping in and out of buildings, entering unfamiliar artwork and traveling through the network of paintings… none of it had seemed overly magical or strange at the time. Except maybe at the beginning, right after his birthday, when he was still getting used to Dark's presence.

Ginny brought him back to the present with a follow-up question. "How much is a certain extent?"

"Er, I'm not exactly sure how much. Neither Dark nor Krad can paint or anything like that, but a friend a mine—she's a statue—once said that Dark was like a god to other artworks," Daisuke said, thinking of what Towa had said when Dark and Daisuke had saved her. But maybe Towa had been a little infatuated with the roguish smile and clever purple eyes of the notorious phantom thief….

"You have a friend who's a statue?" Ginny asked, blinking. Daisuke nodded, and she let out a long breath. "Well, I guess I'll just have to get used to a lot of things when dealing with you, huh," she said, mostly to herself. "So… Dark is like a god to art. Does that mean that Krad is like a god to art, too?"

Daisuke pondered this for a moment. "Well, I'm not really sure what Krad is after. Dark and I, we helped other art, so maybe that has a lot about what she said," Daisuke continued, stumbling over complicated English grammar. "Maybe Krad is more like a devil, or maybe he's just not as well-known. I'm not really sure."

"Okay, whatever. Back to what Krad can do. Does he have any special moves? Good attacks? Weird defenses?" Ginny probed, shuffling her witches' robe as she adjusted her seat so she was facing Daisuke more than earlier.

"Right. Yes," Daisuke answered, focusing more than he had the entire evening. "Krad can shoot feathers… and then they explode."

"What!?" Ginny shouted, and then abruptly ducked her head in apology at the other students, and lowered her voice into a whisper. "Exploding feathers? I've never even _heard_ of that." Several of the other students decided to sleepily pack up their books at Ginny's outburst, and head up to their respective dormitories, giving the pair seated in the corner scowls on their way past. Ginny ignored them, motioning for Daisuke to continue.

"He also can, uh, make people freeze. Er, not freeze as in get cold, but just be unable to move." Riku had told him how she and Risa had attempted to help Dark fight against Krad, and how Risa and then Riku had been covered in a strange glowing light, in pain and incapable of defending themselves. That had been a bad day.

"Hm… okay." Ginny refrained from making other comments, her eyes signaling him to go on.

"And they can go inside paintings, or at least, I'm guessing that Krad can, because Dark can." Daisuke hesitated as Ginny's brow wrinkled.

"What do you mean by 'go inside paintings'?" she asked.

"Er, well, sometimes, Dark and I had to go inside paintings so we could talk to the people in them. The art." Daisuke could see that the girl was becoming confused, probably because she had never had the experience of trying to talk to a painting that couldn't normally talk back. "Most of the paintings behaved like Muggle paintings," he explained, "so we had to enter the painting, and then we could talk to whoever was inside it."

Ginny's jaw dropped. Her green eyes grew wide.

"You've been _inside_ a painting?" Her voice was incredulous. "Like, looking out from the canvas?"

"Yes," Daisuke said, unsure why she seemed unable to actually believe that such a thing was possible, even though she was the one who grew up in a family of wizards and witches where magic was commonplace (or at least, Daisuke imagined it was).

"Inside a painting," she repeated.

"Yes, because otherwise we couldn't talk to them. Though… I suppose it wasn't very much like looking out from canvas, because there's a whole world inside paintings," he said thoughtfully, looking into space.

"A whole world inside paintings," she echoed flatly. "What does that even mean?"

Daisuke blinked at her. "Well, er, there's a whole world there. You have to know that already," he said, wondering why she was still confused. "In wizard paintings, they always move about, and sometimes they aren't in their frames, right? So if there wasn't a whole world there, then where else could they go?" It made perfect sense, and Ginny was a smart girl, so he was surprised he had to try to explain it.

"I… I guess…."

"Though I've heard that it takes a special kind of artist to create some kinds of art. And not all worlds of art last forever," he said, thinking of the World of Ice and Snow, or Ice and Dark, as it turned out to be.

"Like when the art gets destroyed?" Ginny asked, miming someone slashing a piece of canvas with a large knife.

Daisuke shook his head. "Well, that can happen, but that's not what I was thinking. Once I was trapped inside a work of art, and the only way to keep everything from fading away and disappearing was to keep painting."

Ginny blinked rapidly. "Okay, that didn't make any sense just now. You were _trapped?"_

"Yeah, I think I was possessed or something at the time." It was true… he had never really understood exactly how or why he had gone down into the fountain to meet Freedert and the Second Hand of Time.

Ginny was motionless. _"Possessed?"_

Daisuke shrugged, hoping she would not pursue the matter further. He decided to change the subject. "Anyway," he began, using a word his English teacher had taught him to use when returning abruptly to a former subject, "about Krad. I think I've covered everything I know about him: flying, exploding feathers, making people not move, and going into paintings."

Ginny sat back and took a deep breath, accepting his change of subject, though he had the sinking feeling that she would bring it up later when he was least expecting it. "So, I guess this is our starting point." She bent down and picked up the roll of parchment with the list of Daisuke's need-to-learn spells. She suddenly stopped, and shot a look at Daisuke. "Does Krad use a wand?"

The image of the scary blond angel waving around a tiny, wooden twig was absolutely ridiculous, and Daisuke couldn't help cracking a smile as he pressed his lips together to avoid laughing. He shook his head so he didn't have to open his mouth as Ginny gave him an indignant look.

"That was a legitimate question!" she returned huffily. "I don't know anyone who does wandless magic!" She looked grumpily to the list of spells in her lap.

"Well, it just… it would just look funny," Daisuke explained lamely. Though, now that Daisuke had a little bit of an idea about what wands were capable of, it didn't really seem funny anymore, even to him.

Ginny began making little marks on the parchment, and as she unrolled it further to get at all of the items on the list, Daisuke could see that she was putting little stars next to some of them. Probably the ones he needed to be sure to learn immediately.

"What does Krad look like anyway?" Ginny asked suddenly, turning her face back to the red-headed boy. "I mean, I just realized that I wouldn't even recognize him if I saw him."

Daisuke smiled at her, realized just how much help she was being, although she really had no reason to be so nice. It was good to know that even people with magical powers and people who had lived around magical powers all their lives were capable of being just as friendly and charitable as normal people. If she had not chosen to help him out of the goodness of her heart, Ginny would have nothing to worry about from Krad.

"Well, I guess I could try to draw him for you?" Daisuke offered, knowing that his last drawing, the one he had done in class, had been rather quick. "Or should I just try to describe him? Maybe making art of him isn't a good idea…" Daisuke had no idea if his artistic powers were enough to sort of summon Krad to him through a painting or sketch. In fact, he'd better be sure to destroy the notes from History class. If Dark had been able to send a message through existing artwork like Seireth, then it was possible that more than just a message could get through, especially if Daisuke was the artist. Daisuke generally considered himself to be a modest person, but when it came down to it, he had to admit that there was a certain power in his art, of a kind that could be dangerous if he wasn't careful.

"You're a really good artist, though…" Ginny said, smiling in return, unknowingly echoing his thoughts with a very different tone.

"But now that I think I about it, I don't know if he can use the art of him to get at us. I'm sorry, but can you throw the notes from History class into the fire? The ones I drew him on?" Daisuke wondered how he had not thought of this before. He had no idea what Krad was capable of in his tamer-less state, and until he knew more about it, he would have to be on high alert, and not make silly mistakes. It would also mean taking a break from painting and drawing, something he was not very happy to do, but seemed necessary. But if today was any indication, he'd be plenty busy doing schoolwork and devising ways to fight Krad.

"Uh… sure," Ginny said, looking for her notes, with an expression that clearly said she had not thought of the possibility of their enemy using the art either.

Daisuke decided to skip ahead to the description of Krad. "He's really tall, and has long blond hair. That's probably his most distinctive trait. His hair. It's maybe two meters long." For the second time that evening, Ginny's jaw dropped. "And he has really, er, creepy eyes. They're gold. And sometimes he has big white wings. That's where he gets the exploding feathers. And he usually wears a white… dre—, er… coat? He usually wears white." Daisuke wasn't sure _what_ to call the odd piece of clothing Krad often sported. It reminded him of something someone would wear at court three hundred years ago or something. At any rate, it reminded the boy of a dress and was obviously no longer in fashion.

"So he's blond, has golden eyes, sometimes has wings, and wears white?" Ginny confirmed.

"And he's super tall."

"Okay. Super tall."

"Yes."

"Okay."

There was a long pause.

"He sounds pretty easy to recognize," Ginny confessed, finding the History of Magic notes and after a last, appraising look, leaned forward the tossed them into the fireplace. She then looked back to the long list of spells, rechecking the ones marked with a star, and then passed the list to Daisuke. "I marked the ones I think you should know first, but for now I think we need to make a plan." She paused to yawn. "And then we can go to sleep."

"Okay, so what do you think the best plan is?" Daisuke asked, realizing that he was also getting tired. He glanced quickly around the common room and realized that only two other students remained, both much older than either him or Ginny, and both absorbed in books that, judging by the scandalous pictures of passionate couples on the covers, were not school-assigned. He looked back at Ginny rather quickly.

"First, we need to set up an alarm system. We need some way to know if Krad gets near us, or Hogwarts," she said, pulling out one of the books they had checked out from the library. She flipped through the pages as she continued speaking. "There are a few spells that could work, but I was thinking that we want one that will only effect us, rather than set off an alarm that would alert the entire school and faculty, and most likely just get us in trouble with Filch or Snape or someone." Ginny paused and tapped the feathered end of her quill on the arm of her chair. "The easiest spell to let us know if he showed up is the Caterwauling Charm, but I think it's too loud, and I don't think it lets us be specific enough." Daisuke had no idea what she was talking about, and decided it was best to let her continue. "But I came across the Intruductus-Silencio Charm, which is more difficult, but you can probably do it by next week if we practice enough," she said encouragingly. "The charm will let off an alarm that only the users can hear, and will only react to the person the user's specify." She finally reached the page she had been looking for, and rotated the book while holding it out towards him so he could read it easily. "In other words, once we set up the charm, only the two of us will hear the alarm, and it will only go off when Krad is nearby."

Daisuke looked down at the book, where the words "Intruductus-Silencio Charm" were printed across the top of the page. He glanced underneath it, and saw that the spell took some intricate pronunciation and wand-waving, and even some math to decide how to cast it depending on how many people were involved, and how many targets…. It looked much more complicated than Ginny had implied. He took a deep breath, and decided that he would be able to do it by this time next week.

"So, once we have the alarm, then we'll know that Krad is in the area, and we'll be able to put our defense plan into action," Ginny stated, turning the book around to face herself.

"So what's the defense plan?" Daisuke asked, brightening up at the idea that they were being proactive in fighting off Krad. It finally felt like they were going to be prepared, and that Krad, if he got ever close enough to Hogwarts, would have something to worry about when he arrived.

Ginny pointed to the parchment in his hand. "Our defense relies on us. We'll have the element of surprise, and I don't think that being some kind of magical art can get you out of a Body-Bind or save you from an Incarcerous Curse. Learn the spells I starred, and you'll be set to take down Krad. All we need to do is immobilize him and go get a teacher," she finished triumphantly, a smug smile creeping across her features.

"So the plan is to stop him, at least temporarily, and then get someone who's stronger than us?" Daisuke asked, hoping he had the right idea because he was easily confused when Ginny (or anyone for that matter) threw in a bunch of terms that could be either an English idiom or a spell.

Ginny nodded, and then stretched, beginning to stack up the books and rearrange the pieces of parchment she had used to make notes.

Daisuke stared into the fire for long moment, wondering if the plan was a good one. He was certain that Ginny understood that Krad was very dangerous, and probably out of her magical league, but… he worried about what a teacher could do against the formidable artwork. Would a member of the Hogwarts staff do any better against something they had no knowledge of?

Judging by Ginny's reactions and confusion to everything he had explained about Krad and Dark and the true nature of art, it was apparent that the wizards and witches here had no real concept of what powerful art like Krad could do. Daisuke supposed that his rather instinctual knowledge stemmed from having shared a body with Dark for a time, but the only other person who could possible have that same understanding was Satoshi, and he wasn't here, and he wasn't a wizard, either. He doubted that the teachers would even recognize Krad for what he was… none of the other paintings here seemed to be able to leave the two-dimensional spaces on the walls. The teachers would have no idea what they were dealing with, and might underestimate Krad, or mistake him for something else, probably something harmless or eve n benevolent. They might believe whatever Krad told them (because he was older than Daisuke or if he manifested his angelic wings), and he and Ginny might just get in trouble for attacking someone or trampling on someone's religion, either of which could be high offenses in the wizarding world. Daisuke had no clue.

"Ginny…" Daisuke began, blinking and turning away from the flickering orange flames. He fixed his gaze on Ginny's green eyes and while the firelight played off her freckled features. "Do you really think it's okay to rely on the teachers like that?"

The girl looked astonished. She blinked rapidly, and it almost seemed as if she didn't quite understand Daisuke's question. "O-of course, Daisuke. That's what they're here for. The teachers teach us, but they are also here to protect us," she said solemnly.

He shook his head back at her. "I mean, do you think they will know how to handle Krad? You knew nothing about art like this, and you've lived among magic your whole life. Who says the teachers will know how to fight against Krad?"

"It doesn't matter if they know how, Daisuke," Ginny said quietly, looking down at her the stack of papers and books in her lap. "They know more than we do. At any—"

"Not about Krad," Daisuke interjected.

Ginny breathed a heavy sigh, and looked towards the ceiling. "Look, all I'm saying is that we have to be realistic. Take our strengths and weaknesses into account, you know? You have no real magic abilities right now, and although I'm a pretty darn good witch, I'm only in my third year. You know what that means? I'm not even halfway through my education in magic. I'm not anywhere _near_ knowing the kinds of spells that teachers, or even sixth or seventh year students know. And besides, just because _I've_ never heard about malevolent paintings like Krad doesn't mean _no one_ has." Ginny took a deep breath, and reached over to put a reassuring hand on the older boy's arm. "You don't have to keep thinking you're on your own out here, Daisuke. Hogwarts is a team, and everyone works together."

Daisuke couldn't help but feel bolstered by Ginny's faith in the teachers and the entire school in general. Daisuke might not have Dark with him, but that didn't mean he was alone. He had Ginny, and if she were confident in the abilities and generosity of everyone at the magical school, he would be too.

* * *

_Well, I know it's been a long wait, and... I really have no excuse other than my life, a computer crash, and being interested in writing other stories. Anyway, I think that Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief is coming back to the forefront again, so please look forward to a faster updating schedule. Thank you to everyone who has added this to a story alert or favorites list, and a huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed. I personally respond to every review, and enjoy getting them. Thank you, and I hope you return for next chapter!_


	14. Chapter 14

_Have you ever felt like you were being stalked by a character from your own story? Has it ever seemed like every waking moment is being watched by some presence that you _know_ isn't real? Have you ever been were driven to write, possessed by some demon of writing, forced to continue with trembling fingers despite a desire to stop? If you have, you know why this chapter has come out amazingly fast. If you have not, beware the demons, especially when they come in the form of the villain. (Especially when finals are approaching and you have papers to write. T.T) This chapter was forced out of me by none other than Krad, who haunts me these days like Ryuk hovering over Light's back. (And if you think I'm crazy, you're probably right, but please read and review regardless.)_  


* * *

**Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief**

**Chapter 14**

* * *

Satoshi was suddenly expelled from the whirlwind rush of black feathers and dizzying landscapes, and fell coughing and rolling onto a hardwood floor. He skidded on his back to a halt, his glasses sliding up onto his forehead and the lenses catching in his tousled hair. After a few deep breaths, Satoshi attempted to regain his bearings and sense of balance.

"You all right out there?" Dark called from somewhere above him, his voice altogether too cheery and smug for the boy to approve. They had been on the move for hours, but apparently the thief was still full of energy. Then again, Satoshi was not about to rebuke his rescuer for being too energetic. As far as he was concerned, the more energy Dark had, the better.

He opened his eyes as one hand reached for his glasses and slid them back into place. There was a ceiling above him, and for some reason it seemed oddly familiar. He looked towards the space above his feet, and saw, not the Phantom Thief, but a small painting of an old Japanese shrine. He blinked, and noticed that Dark was leaning against one of the red pillars at the shrine's entrance, his purple eyes fixed on the prostrate boy.

Satoshi took a deep breath and sat up. He glanced around the room, taking in the long windows behind him and the tan couches and the quaint, neat decorating…. He had been here before.

"You brought me to Daisuke's house," Satoshi said quietly, eyes flicking back to the black-clad form in the small painting.

"Yeah, well, it's a lot safer than you might think," the thief replied, laughing. "Daiki should be around here unless he's still on his walk, and if he's out, Emiko and Towa are probably here, anyway." Dark stood up straight, and turned his back to Satoshi, his black, feathery wings stretching and flexing, catching the afternoon light like miniature flecks of obsidian. "Go look for someone, Satoshi. I'm going to keep moving, and make sure that if Krad is following us, he doesn't think I stopped here." He turned his head and gave Satoshi a roguish wink from over his shoulder.

"Thank you, Dark," Satoshi said sincerely as the thief spread his black wings, launched into the air with a torrent of swirling feathers, and then disappeared from the painting with a shroud of honey-colored light.

The fourteen-year-old gazed around the room, and couldn't help but feel guilty for calling on the Niwa family for help. Satoshi knew he needed a place to hide, a safe area to lie low for a while, and although he knew Daisuke's family would be more than willing to help—Dark had already proved that—he felt like his presence was going to be very troublesome, if not outright deadly. It wasn't exactly fair to ask the Niwas for help when the problem seemed to be centered on Krad and Satoshi. Then again….

Daisuke was probably in exactly the same danger. Krad might not have ever been as smart as Satoshi, but that did not make him stupid. The angelic-looking art would know that whatever strength Satoshi possessed as a tamer, Daisuke also possessed that same strength, if not more.

He heaved a sigh and pulled himself off the floor, hissing in pain and stumbling over to lean on the wall as he realized his ankle was worse than it felt when he had been full of adrenaline and running from Krad. He hobbled over to the couch, sank into it, and opened his mouth to call out for Daisuke's grandfather.

"We're home!" chimed a voice as the front door creaked and opened, cutting off the boy's prepared call. Satoshi sat up and twisted in the couch, looking over the back towards the kitchen. "Go ahead and put those over there," Emiko directed, and Towa floated into view with a bag of groceries.

"Hello," Satoshi called, leaning on the armrest in an attempt to get himself to his feet.

Towa shrieked in surprise at first, nearly dropping the bag, and then clutched it to her like a shield. Emiko hurried over to see what was the matter, pattering into view with a large sausage in her hand like a baseball bat. She relaxed when her eyes landed on Satoshi.

He stood quickly, putting his weight onto his good foot. "Sorry to startle you," he began, as Emiko stared at him with an odd, growing smile that made him begin to feel uncomfortable. "Dark dropped me off just a moment ago…" he said, hesitating as he heard other voices in the kitchen. His blue eyes flickered towards the other room, narrowing in suspicion. Had Krad and his team of magicians managed to track him down so swiftly? Was that Morista's voice in the other room?

Daisuke's mother, however, gave him a huge smile, and then called to the other room. "Girls! Why don't you come on in the living room? Don't worry about helping in the kitchen, and instead why don't you help entertain!" It seemed Emiko was still her whimsical, energetic self.

"Huh?" said a girl's voice, and then Riku Harada moved into his field of vision. Her sister blinked as she followed, a puzzled expression on her face.

"Oh! It's Hiwatari!" Risa said in surprise, her face lighting up. Riku seemed a little dumbfounded.

"You children chat for a while and Towa and I will make lunch. It's such good fortune that we ran into you today!" Emiko chirped as she tugged a giggling Towa into the kitchen and out of sight.

Satoshi carefully sat back down onto the couch as the twins went to the seats opposite him, giving each other quick, little glances as they sat down.

"So, what are you doing here, Hiwatari?" Risa asked suddenly after a few awkward moments where no one spoke or looked at each other.

"Ah, well…" Satoshi began, and then wondered what exactly he would tell them. They knew about Dark and Krad, and had been involved in the situation. He might as well let them know what was going on. It was better for them to be prepared, and perhaps he could even use their help. He had not forgotten Daisuke's lesson, that working alone was harder than sharing with friends. So why shouldn't Satoshi accept help from whatever quarter was willing to give it? Besides, he had a very good feeling that Daisuke's mother and Towa were listening in on the conversation, and it would be best if they heard the news now, rather than later. Satoshi swallowed, and looked from one twin to the other. "I need to go into hiding for a while," he said, and Risa gasped.

"Hiding? Why?" the younger twin asked, looking worried.

"Is that why Mrs. Niwa didn't tell us you were here?" Riku asked, although she seemed rather skeptical at Satoshi's words.

Satoshi closed his eyes for a moment. "Just listen. Something bad has happened in the past few days… or perhaps earlier." He looked out the window towards the peaceful German afternoon with a slight breeze from the ocean rippling through the late summer leaves, and then back to the twins, making sure his voice was loud enough to be heard in the other room. "Someone has awakened the Black Wings, and now Dark and Krad are back."

"Dark's back?!" Risa squealed in delight, earning herself a glare from her sister.

"Krad is also back, though," the other twin muttered.

At her sister's words, Risa leaned forward to Satoshi, her face a picture of worry. "Are you okay, Hiwatari?"

"I'm… alright." He took a deep breath to continue, noticing that the lunch-making endeavor in the kitchen was very quiet. A slight, bitter smile emerged on his features. "I just twisted my ankle earlier, that's all. And I'm very tired right now. Sometime yesterday, or at I least I _think_ it was yesterday, I went to check on the Black Wings, but it was a trap, and Krad and a group of people attacked me." The twins looked very frightened, but also determined. He knew from their tight lips and furrowed brows that they would want to help fight against Krad as they had done before. "When I came to," he continued, "I was in some kind of mansion—maybe in England—and Krad told me his plan. He wants to use some kind of device to suck out my soul, and then he'd control my body." He looked the twins in the eyes, moving on quickly so they did not dwell on the danger Satoshi was in. "I think that Daisuke might also be in danger, because I think Krad can only use a tamer for his disgusting little project." At this, the girls looked worried, and there was silence in the kitchen. Satoshi shook his head. "I think we need to get in touch with Daisuke, and warn him."

Riku nodded. "He told us he'd contact us during his first week of school and then we'd know how to get in touch with him."

"Or his parents already know how to," Satoshi said. "Anyway, Dark helped me escape from the mansion, but we were on the move all night, and apparently through this morning," he continued, stifling a yawn. "He dropped me off here moments ago, and then continued moving. We don't know if Krad was following us, and he wanted to make sure to draw him away if he was," Satoshi explained.

"Wait," Risa said, shaking her head. "Some of this doesn't make much sense. Why would we need to warn Daisuke if Dark was the one who dropped you off? Doesn't that mean that Daisuke already knows? And how is it even possible for you to hide from Krad? Isn't he to you like Dark is to Daisuke?" Risa wondered aloud. Riku nodded, her brow wrinkling as she pondered the same things.

"Dark isn't inside Daisuke right now, and Krad isn't here, either. I think that they came out of the Black Wings without bodies—well, without us, their tamers. But Dark can move through paintings—he exists as only a kind of art now, and I don't think he can come out of the frames and move through the real world. Krad though… he has this strange device I mentioned earlier. It can transfer souls from one source to another. He's used it put himself in someone else's body." Satoshi swallowed is disgust at the thought of what Krad had done and was continuing to do to innocent people. "But I think it's uncomfortable for him, or at least… the bodies don't last very long."

He watched as both of the twins' faces twisted into matching masks of horror. Satoshi swallowed down a rising nausea, and looked aside.

"We have to stop him," Riku stated harshly. She turned to her sister. "Maybe we can put off the family reunion until later."

Risa was nodding, and Satoshi was confused.

"But I don't think Aunt Cecile will want to go along with it. You know how she gets when plans change…" Risa complained. With a look at her sister's face, she continued hastily. "I just don't know if we'll actually be able to get out of it! And Jean-Luc and Sophie are even coming back from America to be there."

"We can't just leave Daisuke and Hiwatari to face this on their own." Riku was adamant.

"I know, Riku. It's just… we'll have to do some very heavy convincing, and then if they don't go for it, are we just going to run away?"

Satoshi looked out the window again. It was so calm outside, the bright sunshine serving as the complete opposite of the problems Satoshi was now facing.

"If we have to," Riku replied stubbornly. Satoshi glanced towards the twins to see Risa inhaling deeply and giving her sister a quick nod.

"Lunchtime!" Daisuke's mother called from the kitchen, startling them out of their discussion.

"That was fast," Riku commented as she stood.

Satoshi leaned forward on the couch and used the armrest to stand, trying to ignore the dull ache in his ankle.

"Oh, that's right, you said you twisted your ankle," Risa said, moving over to help him. Despite Satoshi's wearied protests, she convinced him to lean against her so he could hobble into the kitchen behind Riku, who looked happily smug.

He wondered whether he was falling into some sort of twin-devised romantic plot, and tried not to roll his eyes. As if he had ever had time for romance, and as if now was a better time than any other.

Towa looked surprised to see him leaning on Risa Harada, and Satoshi was certain that if he could see himself, he would look surprised, too. She was half-crouching next to him, with her shoulder snug up to his armpit, but she seemed to be trying to avoid bodily contact at the same time. Satoshi was at least glad that he had grown taller in the past year, and was not straining his shoulder to save his ankle.

"His ankle's hurt," Risa explained as Satoshi disentangled himself and leaned against the island counter with a quiet word of thanks.

Emiko turned around with a bowl of chips in her hands and placed it in front of them, between an assortment of cheeses and meats and a pile of sliced bread. The woman was still wearing the kind of smile that indicated she was scheming. Satoshi hoped it had something to do with his Krad-related predicament, and not anything to do with his romantic life. He wondered where Daisuke's grandfather was, so he could at least avoid being the single male in the sea of female hormones and starry-eyed ideals.

"Plates are over here," Emiko said, indicating a space on the counter with five plates stacked up. Glasses and napkins were near them. As they took plates and then proceeded to make sandwiches, she started up a conversation that made Satoshi question whether she had been listening to his important news.

"So, where are you twins going tomorrow? A family reunion?"

Riku and Risa looked at each other, and it was clear to Satoshi that they were still planning on not going.

"Well, that's what's planned right now…" Riku began hesitantly, her eyes darting around to avoid eye contact.

"And plans aren't always fixed in stone," Risa continued, picking up as her sister trailed off and pretended to be concentrating on getting mustard to the edges of her bread. "But our reunion is in Paris, where our aunt lives. We're getting together with the French side of our family," she explained, giving Riku a miniscule jab in the ribs, probably for not being much help.

"Is that so?" Emiko said, plopping a pickle slice on her sandwich. "I've always wished I could go back to Paris. I haven't been there since my honeymoon." Satoshi folded some ham onto his sandwich, and looked for lettuce, hoping that Emiko was not going to start reminiscing immediately. She changed the topic, but in an unfortunate direction. "Have you ever been to Paris, Satoshi?" she asked, giving Satoshi the horrible idea that she, too, was in on some kind of feminine scheme involving himself and Risa.

"No," he answered.

"Well, I think everyone should see Paris at least once in their life," she continued, plucking an olive off a tiny plate just before Towa reached it. The maid looked upset, but kept quiet and ground her teeth together instead as Emiko continued speaking. "And I'd always recommend going to see someplace with people you know, preferably friends over family," she added, and Satoshi finally understood what she was hinting.

Emiko was suggesting that he go to Paris with the Haradas, but not for romantic reasons. If he understood her correctly, she meant for him to go away, to leave Germany in hopes of getting Krad off his trail. He glanced over to Risa, who was blinking at Emiko as if she were nearing the shores of comprehension, but was yet a distance out to sea.

"You're suggesting I ask the Haradas to take me to Paris with them," Satoshi stated bluntly, giving Risa the answer she was trying to find. He didn't want to hedge around the issue, it being an important one.

Riku blinked, and straightened up from her sandwich, her mouth forming a tiny "o." Risa looked over to her sister, apparently engaging in nonverbal communication again, because a few moments later, she replied with, "That's a great idea!"

Emiko smiled. "Well, if you think it's a great idea…."

"All of our cousins are a lot older than us anyway, so it'd give us someone to talk to," Risa explained. She turned to Satoshi. "You're kind of… er, looking for someplace to go, right?"

Satoshi looked down at his sandwich, contemplating the idea. It seemed like going to Paris, arguably the world's fashion and artistic center, was not going to improve his chances at avoiding Krad, who could be even now lounging in splendor in some extravagant Parisian hotel with his magical cohorts.

Daisuke's mother set down her plate. "It is very likely that whoever is looking for you will look for you here. It would make me feel more comfortable to know that you are safe with the Harada family rather than depending on an old man, a housewife, and an easily frightened maid to keep you safe," she put in quietly, and Satoshi realized that in some respects, she was right.

There were few places that Satoshi frequented, or places where Krad would suspect him to take refuge. The Niwa house was probably at the top of the list. The other places included his old London apartment, his stepfather's old place, the school, and perhaps the Harada's home, which made all of them places he should avoid. But Satoshi had never known that the twins had a large extended family in France, which meant that Krad was also unaware of the fact.

Furthermore, although he doubted that a protective Emiko was less than a force to be reckoned with, he understood her wish that he leave so she could look after her father, and keep Towa safe, too. Besides, it _was_ a better plan to have Satoshi outside of Germany, in a place where Krad would not think to look. A place where Satoshi could lie low, perhaps stay indoors and keep himself hidden. There might even be some kind of poetic justice in the plan if he went to the city of lights to hide from the terrible Hikari creation.

He looked up at Risa. "If it's alright with you, I think it's probably my best option," he answered slowly.

"We'll just call to let Aunt Cecile know," Risa said, looking over to Riku with a pleading expression.

"You call her," Riku answered, looking away to grab a handful of chips.

"Er… I talked to her last time," the twin pouted, brushing back a long strand of brown hair.

Apparently this Aunt Cecile was intimidating. But it was obvious that the twins were determined to bring him along, if they're only problem was deciding who was going to call their aunt.

"Well, how're we going to convince her it's okay to bring someone who's not a Harada or a Duvent?" Riku asked, giving the second name a precisely French pronunciation. She looked around the table and checking to see that she had visited every plate of food.

Risa seemed to be stumped. But Emiko took the floor, and Satoshi could tell that despite what seemed to be a sudden flash of insight as she raised her finger in the air and let a wide smile grace her petite features, the woman had already decided the plan before she had hinted anything to Satoshi or the twins.

"Oh, it's perfect!" she cried, her eyes narrowing at Satoshi, and then Risa. "Why don't you tell them that Satoshi is your boyfriend?"

* * *

After lunch, Emiko had wrapped Satoshi's ankle with sports tape. She had also packed a bag filled with some of the clothes Daisuke had chosen not to take to school, and thrust the backpack upon Satoshi like some ancient and protective talisman. She had sent Towa to his stepfather's place to pick up his set of Hikari paintbrushes, stuffing them into the bag with the cryptic words, "just in case." Continuing like a captain of the army, Emiko had decided that Risa's cell phone was to be their communication device, and if that failed, they'd use Riku's. If there were any problems, they were to call. They would receive constant updates about Krad's supposed whereabouts via the cell phone. They were to let at least one member of the Niwa family—Towa included—know where they were at all times. When Tsubouchi had finally arrived to pick up the twins in the evening, Emiko had told the man stories of how Satoshi and Risa's young love had blossomed and now "that very mature young man" wanted nothing more than to go to Paris with his true love. The butler, of course, had had no idea what to say and little room to say it as Emiko continued to chatter about how Satoshi also hoped to get in touch with an old friend in Paris (who may or may not be dead) because this acquaintance was the only person who might be able to get him in touch with the last remnants of his own family, and now that his stepfather had passed away….

The end result of the woman's maneuverings was that Satoshi arrived at the Harada home with his bags already packed, and ready to leave on the train with them the next morning. Riku had already packed her duffle bag, but Risa was still deciding whether or not she could fit items like her hair straightener, and whether or not Aunt Cecile or Juliette would have one already.

A call echoed down the broad staircase. "Riiiikuuu? Have you seen my sparkle lip gloss?"

Riku just shook her head and yelled back a defiant negative, and turned back to Satoshi, who was sitting on the couch and trying to catch the flashes of light dancing on the dark waves beyond the cliff.

"She really needs some organization skills," the girl commented, and pulled a cushion into her lap. The pair remained silent for a moment, the only sound coming from the occasional gusts against the tall windowpanes and the slow ticking of the clock in the hallway. Riku eventually broke the silence. "Hey, what kind of—"

The girl was cut off as something white fluttered up to the window and pounded against the glass. Satoshi froze, his eyes locked on the black window, searching for whatever had tapped against it only moments ago. He glanced at Riku quickly, and saw fear reflected in her chocolate eyes. Something white… something outside the house, trying to get inside… Satoshi felt his muscles tense uncontrollably as whatever it was slid across the window again, scrabbling against the glass with a brief gust of wind. The white thing seemed to tumble along sideways and catch on the edge of a window at chest height. Satoshi's fear dissolved into confusion. Whatever was out there was too small to be Krad… or even one of Krad's wings…. It tapped on window gently, and slowly its form became recognizable.

"Wiz?" he queried, and the tapping increased in tempo.

"Wiz!" Riku cried, jumping up off the couch and running to let in the white rabbit. The night released him with a briny gust from the ocean, and the small creature tumbled inside with a bit of debris and hopped across the floor in excitement before Riku managed to scoop him up and give him a hug. "But what are you doing here?" she asked, and gave Satoshi a worried look. "You're supposed to be with Daisuke…."

The rabbit wriggled out of her grasp and scampered towards the window, and picked up what Satoshi had mistaken for a bit of trash.

"It's a letter," he said, astonished, as the rabbit carried the thick envelope to Riku and dropped it at her feet like a well-trained birddog.

"Maybe it's…" she began, leaning down and picking it up, "from Daisuke?" She opened the letter as her feet brought her to the couch and she sat down absentmindedly. "It _is_ from Daisuke!"

"He sent you a letter via Wiz?" Satoshi asked, a little incredulous. Daisuke was going to school in England, wasn't he? Wasn't it a little much to send a rabbit, even a magical one, that far when an ordinary mail service would do?

Riku shrugged, and pulled out another envelope that had been tucked inside the first. "Oh, this one's for Risa." There was a small pause as she filled her lungs with air, and then she shouted her sister's name loud enough for Satoshi to still hear it several seconds after she had finished. "YOU HAVE A LETTER!" she added after taking another deep breath.

The older twin gave an apologetic smile to Satoshi as she pulled out her letter and began to read it. Satoshi blinked and wondered when the ringing in his ears would disappear. The twin next to him had only just unfolded the creases when Risa appeared, breathless, hooking a strand of her long brown hair behind an ear.

"Did you say I have a letter?" she asked, clearly having just run down the stairs.

"It's from Daisuke," her sister answered, holding out the letter without looking up. Risa grabbed the letter and then dashed back up the stairs, though Satoshi could hear that her energy petered out halfway up the stairs, and the thuds of her running footfalls disappeared. Evidently she was not the athletic twin.

Satoshi sighed and looked out the window again. What if it had been Krad pounding away at the glass instead of the harmless rabbit? What exactly would he have done? It troubled him that he was powerless against his hated other self. He knew he had to figure out some way of fending off Krad, but at the same time, such a task seemed incredibly daunting. Satoshi was no match for the despicable artwork physically, but he knew he was superior mentally. But he had no idea about the people Krad was working with. He knew Krad worked with more than just Morista—there had been several people with him in the basement where the Black Wings had been hidden.

Riku gave a short, muffled laugh, apparently caught up in Daisuke's exploits at his school. Satoshi returned to his musings, wondering where Krad had found his bizarre, wand-wielding companions. Why were they interested in helping Krad? He wanted to know what they were getting out of the deal, because chances were they had decided Krad would be useful to them and had thus awakened the Black Wings. It would have been impossible for Dark and Krad to free themselves, so they must have had help. But who would have had known about the magical artwork, and then been able to unlock the seal? And if they knew what Krad was capable of, then what could they want so badly that they needed his help to get it?

If Satoshi could figure out what the magicians wanted, he could probably find a way to destroy their dream or make their goal unattainable. Or make them find someone other than Krad to help them.

Satoshi doubted he would find anything more satisfying than watching Krad be discarded like less than an old toy whose shine had worn off.

He looked away from the windows and the dark night outside the bright room. Riku's face had changed to one of concern, and with a final breath, she set the letter down. Her eyes lifted to Satoshi.

"Daisuke already knows that Krad is on the loose. Apparently he's received some kind of warning from Dark," she stated.

Satoshi nodded. "That's good." He looked away for a moment, and then realized the situation Daisuke was in. It would be easy for Krad to figure out where Daisuke had gone. Everyone at Azumano knew he had gone to a school in England, and there was probably some kind of record of his transfer at the school, if not in the Niwa household. And Daisuke was entirely alone, and not even a native speaker of English like Satoshi. It would be hard for the boy to get out of a sticky situation in a foreign country. He directed his gaze back to the twin seated across from him. "He might be in trouble, though," he said quietly, and Riku's face seemed to fade into one of very intense worry, and now that he recognized it, Satoshi could tell that she had been worried about her boyfriend since Satoshi had explained what he had been doing at said boyfriend's house.

"He said in the letter that he was learning ma—how to protect himself," Riku said, catching herself on something. She suddenly seemed to think better of it, and corrected herself resolutely, lifting her eyes to meet Satoshi's. "Actually, Daisuke's at a magical school, and he's learning magic. He also said that there's an entire castle full of people to protect him."

Satoshi blinked, at a loss for words.

"Apparently he was supposed to go when he was younger, but his acceptance letter was lost in the mail," Riku explained, probably with the hope that Satoshi would make some kind of statement about it all.

Suddenly, it all clicked into place. An old acceptance letter? A magical school? In England? _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is proud to accept you as a student for the coming fall term…._

Daisuke had been sent to the same school that had addressed a letter to Satoshi. Whose headmaster, at least four years ago, was named Albus Dumbledore. Daisuke was _at that school_. The strange letter that had gotten past his mother's guard, the one question he had needed answers to: who had known Satoshi existed before his mother's death? Satoshi was one step closer to answering that question.

He returned to the task at hand. There seemed to be more that he could use with this information. Some sneaking suspicion in the back of his mind was slowly working its way forward. Something to do with the people who could protect Daisuke, the wizards and witches of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry….

Krad.

The group he was working with. What if _they_ were wizards and witches? What if the Black Wings' awakening coinciding with Daisuke's transfer had not actually been coincidence? Satoshi felt something plummet in the pit of his stomach at the thought that Krad's plot was larger than he had guessed, but forced himself to recognize that he had at least found some answers.

At least he had an idea that whatever Krad was planning was beyond the artwork's desire to get rid of Satoshi and steal his physical body.

Riku was still staring at him, waiting for a response, and about to embark on another explanation of why Daisuke had gone off to a magical school. Satoshi lifted up a hand to stop her.

"He'll be all right there?" he asked, though he realized that Daisuke could have already played right into the enemy's hands. If Krad were working with the witches and wizards, then Daisuke had been captured before anyone had even realized it. The boy was far too trusting, at any rate.

Riku was nodding with a fierce determination. She believed Daisuke's words, that the people at his school were trustworthy, that they were there to protect him from harm. But what if they _were_ the harm? Catching the glistening in Riku's eyes, Satoshi decided to keep this train of thought to himself. Even if he wasn't sure Daisuke was going to be safe at his school, he would at least pretend. For Riku's sanity, and for the time being, he had to. Satoshi gave her a reassuring nod in return.

"We should at least find a way to let him know what we know," Satoshi told her, and she swallowed and nodded. He hoped he would have a chance to send Daisuke a personal letter containing his fears about the school.

"I can write him back," Riku said slowly, and her eyes settled on the white rabbit. Wiz gave her a cheerful "kyu" and rolled onto his stomach. "Maybe Wiz will take a letter back for me?"

"Like a pigeon?" Satoshi asked, wondering how good Wiz's senses of direction really were. And although he knew that Wiz transformed into Dark's black wings, and could even turn into Daisuke himself, it was hard to imagine the comfort-loving creature making his way across the English channel. Did he fly? Or swim? Or did Wiz do something else entirely? But at the very least, using Wiz to send letters would mean that letters couldn't be tracked, or stolen. Did Daisuke already suspect the Hogwarts faculty, or the other students? He wished he could see the letter that Daisuke had written to Riku so he could decide if the boy was trying to convince Riku not to worry, or if he actually thought he was perfectly safe. But Satoshi knew it would be entirely inappropriate. Daisuke probably wrote something mushy in there, and the girl would be too embarrassed, although it wasn't as if Satoshi wanted to look at the letter to read Daisuke Niwa's love poems or whatever it was he wrote to his favorite Harada.

"He's not like a pigeon," Riku defended indignantly, pulling Wiz into her lap and letting him cuddle happily. "He's a good little rabbit," she cooed, petting the top of his head.

"RIKU! HIWATARI!" came a frantic voice from upstairs, and Risa came racing down the stairs and appeared breathless in the room, a look of panic etched on her face. Her tiny pink cell phone was in one hand, the charms bouncing around at the bottom.

Riku stood suddenly, dropping Wiz from her lap. "Riku! What's the matter?"

"Mrs. Niwa just called! She said—she said—Dark said—Krad's coming here to look! Probably for Daisuke, but still!" Risa panted for a moment as the words sank in. "Hurry!" the girl insisted, tugging on Satoshi's arm as he tried to rise from the couch with a very stiff and tightly wrapped ankle. "We have to get out of here!"

Riku nodded, and picked Wiz up off the floor. "My bag's right there—we'll have Tsubouchi take us down to the train station right now, and tell him that we realized we'd had our departure time wrong," she said quickly, picking her bag up off the floor by the door. She called for their butler as Risa handed Satoshi his backpack full of Daisuke's clothes.

"We need to get to the train station right away!" Risa yelled when Tsubouchi appeared from the dining room. "We had our tickets wrong!" she said loudly, appearing on the verge of tears. Satoshi didn't know if her hysteria was an act or not, but it worked to get the butler on the move.

"Right now?" he asked, even as Riku was pushing open the door and running out to the car. One of Wiz's white ears was dangling out of her bag. She opened the backseat door and slid in, holding her duffel bag carefully in her lap. She tucked Wiz's ear into the bag, and kept it slightly unzipped.

"Of course right now!" Risa wailed, dragging Satoshi out the door with her. She handed what was undoubtedly only her daypack to her sister and slid in, taking the pack from Satoshi so he could do the same. "You have to hurry, Tsubouchi! Or we won't make it on time!" Tsubouchi, still not quite comprehending the situation, obediently got into the driver's seat, and then turned around to look at the three in the back.

"You're sure you don't want to try taking a different one tomor—"

"Just get going!" Riku yelled, as Risa whined loudly, "I'm sure!"

He turned back around and started the engine. The tires rolled and squeaked against the paved driveway as they made their way away from the Harada mansion, and then turned onto the main road in silence.

Satoshi wondered what they would do once they reached the station, and whether Krad was flying above them now, following the sleek form of the black car as it glided underneath the streetlamps and traffic lights.

He did not even realize he was holding his breath until he felt a little faint. His eyelids fluttered as he took a deep breath and tried to keep watch for swirling white feathers and those dangerous golden eyes.

"Can't you go any faster?" Risa insisted, leaning forward towards their driver.

"I'm going the speed limit, Miss Risa," Tsubouchi answered plainly, unaware of the danger.

"Well, Satoshi hurt his ankle, so we'll have to run and perhaps hurt him if you don't pick up the pace!" she told him with a touch of scorn, apparently playing the little lady. If the driver was surprised at her tone, Satoshi couldn't see it, but he picked up the pace and began at least passing other cars.

A flash of white caught Satoshi's eye, and he sucked in a breath, relaxing a moment later when he realized it was just someone's white glove. He looked towards the twins, and all three shared an anxious glance. Risa tried to smile, but her forehead was too wrinkled to make it look genuine.

Satoshi turned back to the window, each bright light seeming a flash of Krad's white wings, each blond pedestrian a fearsome angel waiting to strike, each black coat marking one of Krad's magic-wielding companions. He tried to force his breathing to calm, taking deep breaths and letting them out silently and slowly.

"Just drive up to the front," Risa ordered, and the car finally rolled to a stop outside the train station. Riku opened her door before Tsubouchi had set the parking brake, and Satoshi was out of the back seat nearly as fast, taking his bag from Risa as she slid out and then using her as a crutch to get around the car and follow Riku into the station. Now was not the time for his pride to get in the way of mobility.

"Bye, Tsubouchi! Thanks! We'll see you when we get back!" Risa yelled, waving and hurrying Satoshi along as he winced at tried to hop on his good leg.

Riku held the door to the station open as he limped towards it, trying to hurry and not trip over the twin at his side. As he walked through the doorway, he looked over his shoulder to see the Haradas' butler looking puzzled and as if he wished to say something, but nonetheless waving and keeping silent.

And behind him, a tall form, clad in white and gold, making his way across the plaza, his golden eyes narrowing in on Satoshi as his face twisted into a cruel smile.

"He's here!" Satoshi hissed, turning away and shoving Risa forward. His ankle could heal later, after he had successfully run away from Krad. The door swung shut behind him and the three dashed forward into a horribly small crowd.

"We need tickets!" Riku cried, pointing to the clerk.

"No! We just need to get on a train!" Risa replied instantly, jerking her sister's arm towards the stairs to the France-bound platforms. "Platform twelve usually has Paris-bound trains—that's the same platform we always use, and the one we're supposed to take tomorrow!" She moved to shove her shoulder underneath Satoshi's, but he pushed her forward.

"We need to run," he said, swallowing as he picked up the pace, gritting his teeth together as his ankle felt like it was going to pop out place. He glanced back to see the double-doors at the entrance swing open as Krad entered the building. He decided not to look back anymore, feeling the adrenaline and intense fear kick in at the same time.

"But how will we get on a train?" Riku demanded as she tugged on Satoshi's arm, pulling him up the stairs. His ankle was not meant to take this sort of abuse… he could feel it throbbing with every hurried beat of his pulse and he knew that if it had not been wrapped, he'd be completely unable to walk, much less run. "They won't just let on us, will they?"

"We'll say our parents are already on the train! We went to the bathroom! We're still kids, you know!" Risa said back as they raced up the stairs, built into a wide, brick tunnel.

"What if there's no train there?" Riku gasped, reaching the top of the stairs, and pulling Satoshi up the last few in one step. He landed with his bad ankle forward, and collapsed into the girl as his leg gave way.

"I'm okay," Satoshi said breathlessly, panting from the pain and the strenuous activity as Riku pushed him back upright. "We need to keep moving." He took a step that was more like a hop toward Risa. "We're going to try Risa's plan." He glanced up to the glowing yellow letters and numbers of the electronic reader-board as he hobbled forward, and the girl pushed herself under his shoulder to ease the burden of his ankle. He put the thought of it swelling against the tight wrap out of his mind, and focused on figuring out which train was headed for Paris.

"Platform twelve!" Riku yelled, swiveling her head to look to the platform. "There's a train!"

"This only works if Krad doesn't see us get on!" Satoshi reminded the girls as they ran towards the motionless train.

They sprinted and limped along the edge of the brick platforms, rushing past businessmen and women returning home and college-aged kids goofing off before a weekend out. They ducked past a group of Japanese tourists, putting the loud group between them and the entrance, and hopefully between them and Krad as well, and then raced down the walk at platform twelve, towards the door where the attendant stood, bored and waiting for more passengers to arrive.

Satoshi swallowed back a lump of nervous fear. The engineer had not started the engine yet. It could be a long time before the train started moving, which meant that Krad might have time to search the cabins. He hoped that they would not let Krad aboard, but he knew that it really only depended on whether Krad was willing to harm innocent civilians or not.

"Hi!" Riku called to the attendant as she arrived breathless in front of him. She kept her duffel bag with the rabbit tucked inside from bouncing around too much, probably hoping with the rest of them that Wiz understood the danger and would keep silent.

"Hello there," the man replied jovially, his mood and tone making a striking contrast with their situation. "Don't worry, there's no rush."

"But we lost our parents," Satoshi said weakly, coming to a halt with Risa next to the other twin. He stopped to catch his breath, refusing to grimace at the state of his ankle.

"This train is heading for Paris, right?" Risa asked, distracting the attendant as Riku shot an anxious look back towards the crowd. Her eyes widened and became fixed on a certain, slowly moving spot, and she nudged Satoshi with her elbow. "Is it?" Risa continued, her voice turning desperate when she noted the position of her sister's eyes.

Satoshi limped forward, but kept a tight grip on Risa's shirt for balance. He gave the attendant an icy stare, and spoke in a low, hurried voice. "If you don't let us on that train, the three of us are going to die," Satoshi began, trying to read the man's expression as it flew through confusion, doubt, shock, and finally settled on skepticism. "Or worse," Satoshi added in a whisper, forcing the man to lean down towards him if he wanted to hear. He continued quickly while he had the man's attention. "Somewhere, behind us, in the crowd, there's a tall, blond man. He…" Satoshi went on, his mind searching for some plausible yet false reason for them to be running and in danger of death or worse, " he's a child molester." Satoshi swallowed and then wondered what on earth he was going to follow that with.

The attendant drew back, scanning the crowd with his brown eyes as he attempted to find a way out of the bind Satoshi had put him in. Satoshi could nearly see the man's brain working. If the children in from of him were lying, he'd be giving away a free trip to Paris. But if they were they were telling the truth, then he'd be turning children in need over to a pervert. The man must have spotted Krad all of a sudden, because he suddenly took Riku's hand and drew her towards the train, ushering Satoshi and Risa in behind her.

"Hurry now, get up there," he said, following them into the train. Satoshi gripped the railing to help himself up the steps, letting out a breath of relief. Once they were in the aisle, the attendant leaned down to address them. "I'm going to call the police now, and we'll get that man taken care of. You kids can hide here," he told them reassuringly, but Satoshi could tell there was a hint of if-this-is-a-prank-you'll-be-the-ones-getting-in-trouble-for-it.

Satoshi nodded, knowing that the police could probably keep Krad distracted until the train left. He allowed himself a little smile despite his frantic breathing, imagining Krad trying to explain himself to the police. And if Krad was not interested in explanations… well, the officers were armed. But it was best to make sure his former colleagues were prepared for a scenario involving Krad.

"Tell them that he has a bomb," Satoshi hissed loudly, causing the attendant to turn back around sharply and give him a serious look. "That man has some explosives on him, and he probably has a gun, too." The attendant eyed Satoshi and the twins carefully, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Risa nod fearfully.

"Don't let him hurt us," she whined pathetically, and although Satoshi found it cheesy in the extreme, it worked to push the man over the edge. He nodded and pulled out his cell phone, turning back to the steps at the doorway.

Satoshi turned to face the twins. "Let's get up further in the train, away from this side," he whispered, hoping that the attendant was too occupied with his phone call to notice them leaving. They had to make sure that they were on the train when it started moving, and that Krad was not, and if the attendant thought they were playing a prank, he might keep them from finding a good hiding place.

Riku and Risa nodded, and all three of them stood slowly and made their way up towards the next car with as few sudden movements and loud noises as possible. Satoshi used the seats as crutches, swinging himself along with his arms and standing only on his good foot. It was harder to move between the cars, but he managed it well enough, leaning his shoulder against the walls as he hopped along.

A few minutes later, they reached a car with wood-walled cabins rather than gray coach seats. "Just pick one," Satoshi whispered to the girls as he leaned against a wall, and Risa obediently opened up the door in front of him and the three of them tumbled inside, exhaling loudly as if they had been holding their breath the entire time.

Satoshi sat on the small bed, remembering that this was an overnight train. It was still bright outside the window from the large overhead lights of the station. He drew the curtain shut, and looked cross from him to the other bunk, where the twins sat, having deposited their bags on the floor in front of them. Riku opened hers a little more, allowing Wiz to peek his head out fearfully and breathe a soft "kyu." No one else had anything to say. Their only choice now was to wait, and to hope that Krad was not stepping onto the train even now….

An explosion ripped through the station, the ground trembling and Riku jumped to look out the window.

"No!" cried both Satoshi and Risa, the girl pulling her sister's arm violently before she could peek through the thin, cream-colored curtain.

"If Krad's out there, he might see you," Satoshi hissed, leaning back as his heart thumped wildly in his chest.

Riku looked horrified at herself, clearly only realizing the truth of Satoshi's words just then. She sat down quickly, and then rubbed her wrist where Risa had grabbed it. Risa made no indication that she was going to apologize.

A striped shirt in Riku's bag was trembling around the shape of a rabbit, and Riku leaned forward to zip the bag up a little more so the little animal felt safer.

Suddenly, the train's engine roared to life, the tiny vibrations of the motor shivering through the cars and urging Satoshi's pulse faster. Would they make it in time? Riku moved back to her seat as another small explosion sounded from outside the train, and this time the short snaps of gunfire answered the boom.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please hurry to your seats," a strained voice announced through the intercom system. "The train will be departing 12 minutes early because of turmoil in the station. Please go to your seats immediately." There was a sudden lurch as the train moved forward, and several shouts from other cabins. "For your safety, the train is departing now," the voice continued desperately. Satoshi glanced over at Risa, who had kicked off her shoes and pulled her feet up onto her mattress so she could wrap her arms around her knees. Riku's mouth was drawn in a taut line, but she leaned against her sister, probably taking comfort in her twin's proximity.

The train kicked into a higher gear, and the car lurched forward again, the weight of the cars at the end pulling backwards against the slowly building momentum. Satoshi wondered if they were going fast enough. Would Krad guess the train that Satoshi was on? Would he try to stop all outbound trains with his explosive feathers? Another short burst of gunfire echoed across the station, followed by one, two, three small crashes of what were undoubtedly Krad's dangerous white feathers.

With an abrupt avalanche of noise, Satoshi and the twins were hurled into the air, falling towards the front of the cabin with their three bags. Satoshi landed on the floor, and the twins were shoved into the wall behind them as the bags, including the one with Wiz inside, slid underneath the twins' bed. A moment later, the train heaved them backwards, slamming Satoshi's back into the compartment under his bed and toppling the twins onto the tiny space on the floor with Satoshi and the tumbling backpacks and duffel bag. All was a tangle of arms and legs and straps as the train rushed along, followed by a loud and horrible, grating, screeching noise that threatened to drown out all other sound. The train continued forward, though it seemed eerily shaky and wobbly for such a large vehicle.

"What just happened?!" Risa cried out, her voice wavering as she tried to stand back up, or at least make it back to the bed she and Riku had claimed. She picked up one of her shoes off the pillow and shoved it onto her foot as Riku righted her bag and pulled the shivering white rabbit from its depths.

"I'm sure it was Krad," Satoshi choked out, leaning forward and coughing as he tried to regain the wind that had been knocked out of him. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what was causing the deafening noise that seemed to emanate from the car behind them, drowning out Riku's reassuring monologue to Daisuke's pet. He reached out to hand Risa her other shoe, which had been tossed near his right hand, noticing how both their hands shook as the shoe was passed between them.

"Due to the danger," the intercom voice suddenly interjected, sounding frantic, "this train will keep moving until a safe distance away. The next stop will be at the border. Any doctors on board must come to the front to see to any passengers with injuries." The last two sentences were repeated in shaky French. "Passengers are prohibited from going to the fifth car, and anyone remaining in it will be escorted to another." This sentence was translated with more difficulty into French, and the group looked around at each other.

"What car are we in?" Riku asked, leaning on the outer wall for support as she tried to stand and hold Wiz gently in her arms. She glanced towards the window hesitantly.

Their door suddenly slid open, making the squealing noise louder, and a young, breathless woman entered the room with the words, "Is everyone okay?" The three nodded uncertainly, and she continued. "You need to evacuate from this car," she shouted over the screaming metal-against-metal noise as she leaned forward to help Satoshi up off the floor.

Riku and Risa moved outside the door, and the woman had to give them a push towards the front of the train to keep them moving as she dragged Satoshi by his arm out the doorway. He tumbled to the other side of the aisle, hopping over his injured ankle, and was suddenly caught by the scene behind him, realizing why the twins had paused in the aisle.

The back of their car—undoubtedly the fifth car—was missing. Only two more cabins remained in the car behind them, one of them twisted and burnt along the edges, open to the swiftly receding steel tracks behind them. The sixth car, or at least its remains, lay broken across the tracks a hundred meters behind them, and Satoshi suddenly realized that the strange wobble in their own car was because they no longer had all of their wheels lined up and rolling along the tracks.

Suddenly the harsh, fluorescent light outside the train disappeared, replaced by cool, silvery moonlight, reflecting strangely off the curling, black smoke from underneath their car. As the attendant tugged on Satoshi's arm and hurried him towards another car, the train continued to pick up speed, clicking along the tracks, carrying Risa, Riku, and Satoshi towards an uncertain future.

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_Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please review, because I love to hear from everyone, and I take the time to respond in detail to each review. The more you leave for me, the more I can respond back to you. Please feel free to send me questions, comments, and/or criticisms. It doesn't take much time to hit the little button and review, and it helps me a lot when I get responses to my chapters. Act now and maybe Krad will listen to you.... And again, since Krad appeared in this chapter, please let me know if my obsession is getting in the way of the story, and if he's still outshining the Phantom Thief in a completely ridiculous way. Thank you!_


	15. Chapter 15

**Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief**

**Chapter 15**

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Daisuke Niwa shivered slightly, pulling his wizard's robe around himself tighter as he and Ginny made their way down the hallways and moving staircases to the Great Hall and breakfast. The sky was overcast, the gray tendrils of low clouds reaching gently towards the English earth, seeming to dampen the cold, stone walls of Hogwarts Castle. In the Great Hall, the clouds swirled around the banners of the four houses and settled into the corners of the high rafters.

The pair took seats towards the end of the Gryffindor table, near Parvati and Lavender, who had waved them over.

"Good morning, Daisuke," Parvati greeted him mildly, giving him a sweet smile as he took the seat adjacent to her.

"Good morning," he answered, meeting her eyes briefly before turning his focus to the food and drink on the table. "This looks good," he commented to all three girls, or maybe no one in particular. He helped himself to a bowlful of oatmeal, and then began sprinkling sugar, almonds, and assorted berries on top.

"So, what does your schedule look like today?" Parvati asked after he had added milk and taken a few bites.

He nodded his red head up and down as he swallowed. "Uh, it's… complicated. I was hoping I could have some help finding where I need to go," he said, fishing around in the pocket of his robes for the folded piece of paper with his class schedule printed on it. He finally grabbed it, and then spread it before them, smoothing it on the surface of the table.

Ginny and Parvati leaned over his shoulders on either side.

"That says 'private' underneath it, so does that mean you're going to have a private lesson?" Ginny asked through a mouthful of toast. She swallowed. "Every week?"

"Look at the rest of the week," Parvati said, drawing her finger across the schedule horizontally. "He's got private lessons in all of the required courses."

"Even potions," Ginny said, twisting her mouth around the word like it tasted bad. Though maybe it had to do with her oatmeal.

"This morning I have Transfiguration, and then fourth-year history," Daisuke told them, reading it directly off the paper. He wondered what transfiguration was, smiling as he thought back to when he hadn't even known that this kind of magic _existed_, yet alone had different branches of study.

"Oh, yeah, that's with your fellow fourth-year Gryffindors," Parvati asserted with a feline smile. "Just like yesterday, you only leave us for a different history class at the end of the day." She sat back, and delivered a cool smile towards Ginny, who blinked as she sat back as well.

"I guess I'll see you at lunch, or after class," Ginny said, pushing back a strand of hair, and giving an odd, knowing smile to Parvati.

"So, Daisuke," Parvati said, cutting off Daisuke's nod to Ginny. "Do you think we'll have to work with the Skrewts all semester?" She poked at her oatmeal with the same zeal they had fed the gross creatures yesterday. Clearly she was not looking forward to the prospect.

"Er, I really have no idea. What do you normally do in that class?" he asked, trying to put images of the Skrewts out of his mind so he could finish his breakfast.

Without warning, a loud chorus of hoots echoed down from the ceiling, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of beating, feathered wings. Daisuke's head shot back as his eyes lifted upwards, and he watched what must be hundreds of owls flying overhead, dropping envelopes and swooping low to deposit small packages on the tables, and flying back up into the rafters and out an open window.

Daisuke blinked in the aftermath, as a few downy feathers floated gently towards the heads of the other students. He was brought back down to earth himself by the laughter of the girls next to him.

"You look so amazed," Parvati trilled, hiding another fit of giggles behind a hand.

"But what _was_ that?" Daisuke asked, looking back and forth between Ginny, who was still laughing hysterically into her oatmeal, and Parvati, who was trying to stop.

"Owl post," the dark-haired girl answered, coughing slightly. "I guess you've never seen that before?"

Daisuke nodded, still glancing upwards every few moments to spot the gray, brown, and white feathers as they drifted towards the tables.

After they had all finished their breakfast, Daisuke followed Parvati and Lavender out of the Great Hall, towards Transfiguration class. He filed into a seat next to them, and then waited for the teacher to arrive.

"Good morning, students," Professor McGonagall's voice rang out as she walked up the aisle, nodding at her class. She moved behind the desk at the front of the room and placed her hands gently on it, using it as a kind of podium. "Welcome back to Transfiguration class. We'll be doing quite a bit of work this year, in preparation for your O.W.L.s. I trust that some of you have already been thinking about them, at least?" Her eyes traveled over the class, and Daisuke noticed that many students seemed to slouch a little, whereas Hermione did the opposite and sat up straighter. McGonagall continued in a businesslike manner, pulling her wand out of a sleeve and opening a shelf on the far side of the wall with a wave. "At any rate, let's get to work, shall we? Today we'll be starting off easy with pincushions and hedgehogs. Open your books to page 32 and can anyone tell me what common elements we see in our transfiguring subjects?"

Hermione's hand bolted into the air, even as she was still finding the correct page and pincushions were floating down from the shelf at the behest of the professor's wand.

"Do you want to share books?" Parvati asked in a whisper, scooting hers to the space between her and Dasiuke, and giving him a smile.

Daisuke smiled in return and nodded. "The professor should have my book, but I'd appreciate it until—"

With a sudden _whump_, another copy of their Transfiguration book landed on the table in front of Daisuke. It was, presumably, his own. He slowly took a breath, swallowed, and gave a glance to Professor McGonagall.

She gave him a small half-smile and a nod, and then turned her attention to the rest of the class. "Now, as Miss Granger said, color is never a common element…."

* * *

"You seem happy today," Seireth said mildly as he walked in for lunch from the direction of the greenhouses. Her black dragon was floating gently on a breeze Daisuke couldn't feel above a bucolic landscape. Daisuke nodded.

"I think I like Herbology," he said with a smile. Although the walk to and from the greenhouse had been slightly cold and rather wet, he had enjoyed his private lesson with Professor Sprout. Together they had watered (and fed) some of the more exciting plants, and discussed the basic principles of Herbology. Daisuke had been impressed with all the uses of magical plants, and had wondered if his mother would like the idea of starting her own magical herb garden. Professor Sprout had hinted that she might give Daisuke a few seeds at the end of the year if he were interested. Daisuke glanced to Seireth with a serious expression. "It's interesting learning magic. It all seems so practical." He paused as a few older students passed him, giving him strange looks. "But at the same time, I think I miss some of the subjects I studied at my old school."

Daisuke continued walking down the hallway as Seireth's dragon glided into another painting, flapping because the air seemed completely dead above the forested hill. Daisuke had the feeling the artist had forgotten to paint the wind.

"What subjects would those be?" Seireth asked, her voice rising with a hint of curiosity.

"Oh, I guess I miss art class the most," he responded sheepishly. Though, given the abundance of magical artwork at school, there had to be some kind of College of Magical Fine Arts, right? Somewhere? He wondered what the requirements would be to get into a magical college. "And I think I miss classes being taught in German," he laughed.

Seireth nodded. "Hogwarts _does_ offer one art class, though it's usually reserved for sixth and seventh-year students." She passed into another painting, and landed her dragon on the roof of an old-looking house. "I'm sure that if you wanted, you could get permission for it. I can look into it for you, if you like."

Daisuke felt his face darken a little in embarrassment. "Oh no, it's not necessary, Seireth. I'm sure I have my work cut out for me just catching up with my classmates. I'm sure I'll have time when I'm actually a sixth-year student. And until then, I can just paint on my own, right?" He laughed a little as Seireth nodded and fidgeted with her reins. Though he and Ginny _had _decided it would be best for him to avoid painting for now.

"Well, enjoy your lunch, Daisuke, and I'll see you later. Stay safe, and on your guard!" The dragon reared up, flapped once, twice, and then flew off, vanishing behind the picture frame. Daisuke waved, and continued walking towards the Great Hall for lunch.

"Daisuke!" Ginny said, waving him over to a table she was sharing with several other students, his roommates Dean and Seamus among them. He waved back, and sat down at the edge of the group.

"I'm still bummed about there being no Quidditch this year," Dean said, shaking his head over a baked potato.

"Yeah, no kidding," Ginny commiserated.

"I don't know what that is," Daisuke said lamely as a plate appeared before him. He used his fork to stab a potato and put it on the plate. He looked up to see all of his fellow students staring at him with expressions of surprise, amazement, and, in some, pity.

By the time lunch was over, Daisuke had something like an understanding of the game of Quidditch, though he was confident that he would understand all the duties of the Beaters, the Chasers, the Keepers, and the Seekers only if he saw the game played. It did, however, sound rather painful for a game.

Parvati and Lavender arrived at the table just as they were finishing up and ready to go to Charms class. "There you are!" Parvati said, smiling and walking next to him as they exited the Great Hall. "I didn't see you sitting with the rest of them, and I almost thought you hadn't made it to lunch!"

"No, I was just learning about Quidditch," Daiske said proudly.

"Oh, I guess since you're Muggle-born…. What's your favorite Muggle sport, Daisuke?" she asked, touching his arm.

Daisuke immediately thought of Riku. "La Crosse," he answered firmly. He suddenly reddened. "Not that I play or anything! I just like… watching it." He looked away, hoping she wouldn't pressure him for details about why.

"Hmm… which on is that one?" she asked as they entered their classroom. It was rather large, and had wall-length windows on one side, overlooking the lake.

Daisuke sat on a bench in the middle of the room and Parvati slid onto it next to him, followed by a quiet, and apparently distracted Lavender. "It's where the players have racquets that they use to throw and carry a ball, and score goals with it. It's… not played on brooms," he added.

Parvati laughed and even Lavender giggled, but a moment later their professor appeared behind his desk, his short frame barely visible behind it.

Charms class was mostly a lecture in which they took a lot of notes on the variety of spells they'd be learning this term, and then Daisuke scurried off on his own, down to the History of Magic classroom. He arrived at the same time as a group of very tiny Gryffindors, and for once Daisuke did not feel as if he were the most lost person in the hallway.

He blinked suddenly, recognizing the boy that had fallen in to the lake during the crossing. The boy was in his own house, and his name was…

"Dennis?" Daisuke asked.

The boy turned, and then smiled brightly at Daisuke. "Oh, Daisuke! Cool! What are you doing down here?"

"I have History of Magic." He blinked a moment. "With you, actually, because I didn't take History of Magic at my old school, so I have a lot to catch up on."

Dennis and the other Gryffindor first years around him nodded as they pushed open the door and walked in the room. Daisuke felt a wave of sleepiness wash over him as he perceived the ancient blackboard, the shelves of dusty books, and the pale, slightly translucent form of the professor as he sat reading at his desk.

He sat in a seat closer to the front of the room, and vowed to pay attention. Maybe this time, without Ginny to distract him, he could take proper notes. He pulled out a piece of parchment and set out his ink along with the rest of the class, feeling awkward because he was at least a head taller than all of them.

After a long moment, Professor Binns yawned, put down his book, and looked at the class. Without any warning, he launched into a lecture, his voice taking on the monotony of a hive of bees.

"Among the five Darkest wizards of all time, the Dark Wizard Lorenzo is probably the least well-known. His influence, however, lasted for nearly three centuries, and is responsible for some of today's weather patterns…."

Daisuke opened his eyes suddenly, and wrote down "5: Lorenzo" and then tried to focus on Professor Binns again.

"… and it was in 1532 that Lorenzo struck again, this time attacking a Portuguese fleet…."

Daisuke blinked, and started slightly when other students started moving. The first-years were picking up their bags and Dennis waved as he left the room with a group of friends. Stifling a yawn, Daisuke stood, picked up his books, and walked wearily out the door. He felt horrible for falling asleep in class, but assumed that if he needed to study for a test, he could always ask Ginny or Hermione for help.

He ended up following the noisy group up to the Gryffindor common room, and by the time he had deposited some books by his bed, he felt more awake than he had during class. He wondered where Ginny was, and hoped that she would show up so they could get back to work on their defenses against Krad. He decided he would get to work on some of his homework so he would have plenty of time to devote to the extra work he would be doing with Ginny.

Daisuke waited in the common room, tapping his books between German and English and checking the pronunciation of the spells Ginny had given him the previous night. He was holding up his wand, concentrating carefully, and muttering _"lumos"_ and _"nox"_ so that the tip of the wand had the appearance of a firefly. He was concentrating so fully that he nearly missed Ginny walk right past him.

"See you later," she called to Dean, who nodded and waved as he hiked up the stairs to the boys' dormitory. "Oh, Daisuke!" she said, turning around suddenly and apparently noticing him for the first time. "I was just about to go looking for you," she said, laughing. She plopped down on a chair next to him.

"So," he said, taking a deep breath. He gestured to the open book in his lap. "I've been practicing some of the spells you've given me, but… I've only gotten the hang of…." He glanced to the list, which was in his left hand. "Er, the first pair."

Ginny nodded. "Well, that's still really good, considering it's your first time really doing magic, right?" She sounded as if she was trying to be encouraging, but was in reality a little discouraged. "I guess you should keep practicing?"

"Er, right. But I need a doorway for the next set, and probably something I can actually summon or banish for the next set. And I was thinking that I need help if I want to try any of the curses…." Daisuke had the feeling he sounded very lame, and very useless.

But Ginny nodded. "You're right, actually. I guess…." She shook her head, her reddish hair tossing from side to side. "We can't really practice very well unless we have a good space to do that, right? I know it's frustrating, but I think we'll have to wait until this weekend to really get some practice time in. We'll need an empty classroom."

Daisuke nodded. In the meantime, there was always classwork to do. It would be lousy if he spent all his time trying to learn spells to counter Krad and failed his schoolwork. If that happened, it would be like letting Krad win, in a way.

"I'll ask Professor Flitwick if we can use the Charms room for some extra studying. I'm sure he'll agree to it. And there's lots of things in there we can use for practice," Ginny continued, nodding to herself. She suddenly gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry I'm not much help right now, Daisuke."

"You're plenty of help, actually," he returned quickly. "I wouldn't have any clue what to do without you."

Suddenly the pair was interrupted. "Hey, you two want to head down to dinner with us?" a voice asked. Daisuke turned around to see Hermione, standing next to Harry and Ginny's brother Ron. The other boys were whispering something to each other.

"Oh, I'm waiting for Dean, actually, but you go on ahead, Daisuke," Ginny said, motioning. Daisuke nodded, hastily ran his things up to his room, and walked with the trio out the swinging portrait of the Fat Lady.

"So, how're you holding up with all of your classes?" Hermione asked in a pleasant voice.

Daisuke nodded. "Well enough, I guess. I keep spacing out in History of Magic, though."

Ron laughed. "Who doesn't?" He glanced at Hermione. "Excepting Hermione, of course."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You only have to know the years of wars and the victors for his tests. That and study up for the essay, but he gives out the three possible questions beforehand," Harry said helpfully.

"If you need help, though," Hermione continued, "you can come study with me after dinner. I'll be—"

"In the library," Ron and Harry interrupted, giving each other looks of mock exasperation. Daisuke couldn't help but smile, even as Hermione looked somewhere between indignant and disgruntled. She rolled her eyes and tossed her hair, striding out in front of them as they entered the Great Hall.

Candles were floating in the air, as if held by invisible strings attached to their flames. The four sat down at the Gryffindor table, where, as usual, there were twice as many forks as spoons at the place settings. The food hadn't arrived yet, but there was plenty of healthy chatter at the four tables. Daisuke thought he saw Parvati at the Ravenclaw table, but then remembered that she was a twin. The girl under the blue and silver banner was undoubtedly Padma.

"Hey, you got any ideas about getting into the tournament?" Ron asked an older boy, leaning over the table.

"Not that we're sharing with you," said the boy next to him, and Daisuke recognized them suddenly as Ron and Ginny's older twin brothers.

"There's a reason there's an age limit, you know," Hermione chimed in.

"And that's so we can find a way around it, Granger," the one on the left answered with a smile.

"Besides, our birthday's only two weeks after Halloween, so it's not as if we're really breaking the rules that much, even," the one on the right said.

Moments later, however, the conversation ended as the food arrived at the table, magically appearing on their plates in the form of fried potato wedges, meatloaf, peas, and plenty of gravy.

Daisuke was surprised to see Hermione attack her food viciously, downing a plateful and then a glass of pumpkin juice in a matter of minutes.

"Don't choke," Ron cautioned. Harry shook his head as he ate, and Ron's brothers stared in awe.

Hermione grunted, wiped her face with her napkin, and then stood. "Excuse me. If you need me, I'll be—"

"In the library," Ron and Harry finished. Harry though, had a mouthful of meatloaf at the time, and ended up spraying Ron's brothers with bits of meat. Apparently Ron's brothers, Fred and George, were rather notorious tricksters and were set upon getting their revenge during the evening meal. All in all, it made for a rather surprising and entertaining dinner as Harry tried to catch his hexed meal as it ran for its life and then, after the loss of the meatloaf, attempted a counterattack with help from the serving spoons.

* * *

"Good luck, Daisuke," Ron said after Herbology the next morning, his tone suggesting that Daisuke's situation showed a distinct lack of the kind of luck he was wishing.

"Yeah, just try to hang in there," Harry intoned, clearly with the same misgivings. He put an arm on Daisuke's shoulder, squeezing it and shaking him slightly in sympathy.

"Oh, you two," Hermione butt in before Daisuke could respond coherently. She whirled to Daisuke, and spoke in a frank voice. "You'll be just fine. I'm sure that Professor Snape understands that you're a new student and unfamiliar with magic, though…." She bit her lip and looked at Daisuke with something like pity. "Though… don't take everything he says to heart; he really can be tough on students sometimes."

"You mean he's a mean-spirited prig?" Ron snorted.

"Who hates all Gryffindors," Harry added darkly.

Hermione rolled her eyes at her friends, as if to imply that they were making things up. "You'll be fine," she said, but Daisuke had the sinking feeling that she was simply trying to console him and that she didn't even believe her own words. The trio waved and walked away, leaving Daisuke alone outside a doorway that looked like a portal into a medieval dungeon.

He knocked, and then opened the door. Seeing no one inside, he took a few steps into the room, glancing at the dark, empty cauldrons and silent, motionless stools. His footsteps seemed to echo and bounce off the cold, subterranean walls.

"You must be Daisuke Niwa," said a low voice from behind.

"Yah!" Daisuke yelled, startled. He spun around and found himself looking up at a looming figure with pale skin and black, greasy hair. He blinked a few times and swallowed, before remembering that this person was probably the teacher, and that he was here for a private lesson.

"Y-yes, I'm Daisuke," he answered, his voice coming out shakily at first and his English feeling wholly unnatural. The teacher curled his lip, and then swept past him, up to the front of the room where a large cauldron sat next to a thick, hardwood desk.

The teacher turned around sharply, and looked down on Daisuke from the raised platform in the front. "Welcome to Potions class," he said smoothly, his announcement without flourish or display. "You have a lot to catch up on, Niwa, but since it is the Headmaster's wish that you jump into your studies at a level quite beyond you at the moment, I am spending my time here training you." Daisuke nodded along, and was about to take a step forward towards the teacher when he barked out. "First! There are several rules in this classroom that you will pay strict attention to. There will be no eating or drinking. There will be no horseplay or mischief-making. You are will listen when I am speaking, and answer questions when asked. Any deviance from these rules will be punished."

Daisuke nodded fervently, feeling intimidated.

"Second," the teacher continued, his deep voice slowly falling into a rhythm, "understand that this course will move swiftly, and that material must be covered in a timely manner. You may be tested on things that we do not cover in the short class periods we have together. Therefore you are responsible for reading this book," he said, picking up a book from the desk, "on your own time."

Daisuke walked towards the front of the class to receive his book, and the teacher continued. "You are also responsible for reading these books," the teacher said, his black sleeve swinging as he indicated the stack of books on his desk. "You will finish all of your reading material by the end of the semester." His voice told the boy that there was no room for doubt. Daisuke nodded again, reaching out to take the first book tentatively.

"Third. The Headmaster has asked me to teach you special lessons, but those will not begin until spring term. Furthermore, you are not to discuss these special lessons with anyone else. As far as your classmates are concerned, you will be continuing normal Potions lessons during the next term." The teacher's eyes gleamed dangerously as his final words fell like an executioner's axe. "Is that understood?"

Daisuke nodded again, and swallowed, hoping that he would survive private lessons.

"Very well, then. We shall begin. Do you know any other names for the True Unicorn Root?"

* * *

The following day, Daisuke was beginning to feel quite worn out. He spent lunch with Ginny, the two of them complaining about the ridiculous amount of homework and studying necessary. They didn't mention that they were so tired from always reading up on and practicing anti-Krad maneuvers, but both alluded to their extra work several times.

Daisuke stretched as he stood, and then walked down the hall with Ginny. She had told him that since his next class was on the way to hers, she might as well show him where to go. It was, after all, his first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson with Professor Moody, and Ginny was anxious to hear his impression of the teacher afterwards. She had nothing but praise for the dark, misshapen man and his lessons.

"My brothers were really impressed," Ginny added, turning to face him as they split up, even though it meant she was walking backwards. "And that's saying something." She gave him a quick, pointed look, before turning away and calling over her shoulder. "Have fun, Daisuke!"

"You too, Ginny!" he called back, waving before he realized she wasn't even looking back at him. He stood behind Seamus in the line outside the door, and found it odd that all of his classmates were waiting outside the classroom, apparently eager for the lesson to start.

Ginny had explained that Defense Against the Dark Arts was the one area that would help the most if they were going to fight Krad. Although Daisuke still thought it sounded like he was going to be fighting against Dark, he understood what the name of the class meant. In the sense wizards and witches were familiar with, "dark arts" meant "evil magic." So it was obvious that learning to defend oneself against evil magic was more or less synonymous with Ginny and Daisuke's goal of fending off Krad.

When the door opened, he rushed inside to the front of the room with the other students. He pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment as soon as he sat down at the front of the room between Neville and Hermione. He offered the boy a smile, which was returned, and then he pulled out a quill and held it at the ready, poised to take sufficient notes.

Soon enough, the distinctive _thud-step, thud-step_ of Professor Moody's footsteps could be heard outside the room, and then the man himself appeared, punching open the door and limping gamely up to the front of the room. His swirling electric blue eye swiveled around the room.

"You can put those away," Moody ground out, "those books." Daisuke looked to either side as Hermione and Neville scrambled to put their books away. "You won't need them." Small whispers echoed throughout the classroom.

The professor sat at his desk and took roll, his creepy magical eye settling on each of the students as he called their names and waited for an answering "here!" or "present!" It was probably just his imagination, but Moody's eye seemed to linger on Daisuke's nervous face longer than necessary. Then again, the teacher drawled out Harry's full name as if there were something curious about it. Daisuke shook his head slightly and swallowed, determined to do well in this class.

"Right then," Moody went on, moving swiftly into the lesson, "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures—you've covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?"

Daisuke blinked, and realized how utterly unprepared he really was. He didn't even know what a "Dark creature" was supposed to mean, and wasn't sure if the following string of words had been English or not. He looked around as the rest of the class gave quiet, affirmative replies.

"But you're behind—very behind—on dealing with curses," the teacher continued. "So I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark—"

"What, aren't you staying?" Ron cut in suddenly, looking slightly anxious. Daisuke was still hoping that Moody would finish his sentence, so he could be reassured that they weren't actually being trained to deal with _Dark_, and instead were dealing with Dark… _things_.

"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh? Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago…." Moody went on, oblivious to Daisuke's internal disquiet. They were all here to learn how to protect themselves against evil, right? So where did family tangents come into play here? Daisuke resisted the urge to fidget as the teacher continued to ramble. "Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favor to Dumbledore…. One year, and then back to my quiet retirement."

Daisuke and several other students jumped as Moody clapped his hands and barked out a harsh laugh.

"So—straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms." Daisuke tried not to smile because there was one thing he had actually known before coming into the class. "Now, according to the ministry of Magic, I'm only supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it 'til then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking."

Everyone turned around to see Lavender blush and hurriedly put something back into her bag. Parvati, next to her, also looked slightly embarrassed, and looked away from her friend. Daisuke avoided meeting her eyes and turned back to the front of the room.

"So… do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?" Moody asked, and Daisuke was relieved to find that he was not the only person who didn't know. Hermione was one to raise her hand, but Moody called on Ron first.

Diasuke had never thought that Ron was the kind to be a teacher's pet, but it appeared like he was rapidly becoming Moody's favorite.

"Er, my dad told me about one…" Ron began nervously. "Is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?"

The teacher was nodding his grizzled head along to Ron's tentative words. "Ah, yes. Your father _would_ know that one," he said, and Daisuke was wishing Ron's father had never been mentioned. "Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse." Moody stood as he finished the sentence, and opened one of his desk drawers, and retrieved a large, glass jar. Inside were three, large spiders.

As Professor Moody opened the jar and plucked out a spider, Daisuke wondered what on earth was going on in this class. The spider was motionless in the palm of his hand, probably wondering, like everyone else, what was going to happen next.

"_Imperio!"_

As soon as the word left Moody's mouth, the spider jumped off Moody's hand like a bungee-jumper, swinging back and forth with a piece of silk. The spider suddenly flipped through the air, doing cartwheels as it landed on Moody's desk, and then, unbelievably, started doing a tap dance.

Daisuke leaned forward over his own desk, his eyes wide. What was this, a circus spider? Next to him, Neville was trying not to laugh.

"You think it's funny, do you?" Moody growled suddenly, addressing the entire class, most of whom were giggling. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"

The class became instantly silent as Moody's gaze returned to the spider on the desk as it rolled up into a ball. "Total control," he intoned quietly. The spider began rolling around in circles on the desk, and Daisuke began to feel a little sick. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats…"

"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse. Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will." Daisuke swallowed again, meeting Neville's eyes briefly. The other boy looked scared, and Diasuke wondered if the other students in the class were thinking of the times Moody kept referring to….

"The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody shouted abruptly, and everyone flinched back. Daisuke wondered what "vigilance" meant, but decided he'd wait until after class to ask.

"Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?" Moody asked, tossing the cursed spider back into the jar.

The hands on either side of Daisuke shot into the air, making Daisuke feel suddenly very inadequate. He had not even known that there were some curses that were illegal.

"Yes?" Moody asked, his magical eye landing on Neville, shortly followed by his normal eye.

"There's one—the Cruciatus Curse," the boy said in a small voice, apparently afraid of even mentioning the curse's name. Daisuke suppressed a shiver as he tried to imagine a spell worse than total control over another person. It was like trying to imagine something that would have forced Satoshi to try to commit suicide earlier… like trying to imagine a curse worse than Krad. Then again, what if Krad was considered as one of these curses? He shook his head, realizing that the curses Professor Moody was talking about were of a different nature than curses like Dark and Krad. He forced himself to pay strict attention.

"Your name's Longbottom?" the teacher asked, looking at Neville intently.

Neville's only response was a kind of feverish nodding. Moody released him from his intense, two-eyed gaze, and pulled out another spider. Diasuke could tell it wasn't the same one because the first spider was still slowly uncurling from a ball.

"The Cruciatus Curse," Moody said in a low voice, but the class was so quiet it was easy to hear his words. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," he grunted, and lifted his wand to the creature, saying, _"Engorgio!"_

Daisuke gasped in surprised as the spider suddenly grew to the size of his right hand. Several students leaned away from the grotesque creature, especially Ron, who had the unfortunate position of being front and center in the room, and thus closest to the spider.

Moody tilted his wand towards the spider, leaning over it, and then, almost too quietly for Daisuke to make out the incantation, murmured, _"Crucio!"_

The spider immediately curled up, and rocked back and forth as if it were in its death throes. The arachnid jerked and spasmed violently, and Daisuke felt himself unable to take his eyes away from the poor thing….

"Stop it!" Hermione shouted suddenly, and it seemed she was shouting directly into his ear. Daisuke winced and sat back, staring a Hermione, his attention broken away from the tortured spider. But her gaze was fixed beyond him, on Neville.

The boy had his teeth clenched and was very pale, with wide, almost-unseeing eyes. Daisuke spun back to stare at Moody, who released the spider from the curse, and said a quiet word that caused the suffering creature to shrink back to its original size.

"Pain," Moody said softly as he put the still-twitching spider back among its fellows in the jar. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse…. That one was very popular once too." Again, Daisuke felt slightly sick to his stomach, and he wondered if Neville had seen the curse before. He wondered what kinds of terrors his classmates had witnessed, and swallowed uncomfortably. If such illegal curses were used often only a few years ago, no wonder students were taught defense measures in school.

"Right… anyone know any others?" Moody questioned gravely, his eerie blue eyes turning rapidly around the room.

Hermione's hand quivered as it rose into the air beside him, and at Moody's nod and hushed, "Yes?", she spoke in a tense whisper.

"_Avada Kedavra."_

Daisuke heard several swallows and the quiet rustling of robes as everyone in the class exchanged glances with one another.

"Ah," Moody said slowly, his lips twisting into a smile that was made unnervingly creepy by the uneven corners of his mouth. "Yes, the last and worst." Daisuke shuddered involuntarily, instinctively afraid of whatever could be worse than the Cruciatus Curse, and he was not alone. "_Avada Kedavra_… the Killing Curse."

Daisuke could feel himself go absolutely still, and watching in fascinated horror as Moody gently put his hand into the jar, and pulled out the last spider. The spider was moving frantically even before the teacher put it on the desk, and once its legs reached the slightly scratched wood, it tried to scurry away, but Moody leaned over it, his dark countenance lit strangely from within as he raised his wand, pointed it towards the helpless spider, and shouted.

"_Avada Kedavra!"_

A flash of intense green light blinded Daisuke as a simultaneous roaring blew past his ears, reminiscent of the sound of a gust of wind when flying on Dark's black wings. When his vision cleared, the spider had changed location as if the roaring wind had pushed it. It lay on Ron's desk, flipped over onto its back, unmoving, and in the unmistakable curled-up position of spider-death.

"Not nice," Moody said, his gravelling voice coming out rough, yet calm as he brushed the spider off Ron's desk and onto the stone floor. "Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me."

Daisuke leaned over the front of his desk to get a good look at the person sitting directly in front of Professor Moody. It was… Harry Potter, who was now starting to turn a little red as everyone else stared at him, too.

Daisuke slumped back into his chair, pondering the situation. Apparently all of his classmates were already skilled at Defense Against the Dark Arts. Even Harry, who seemed pretty average, was remarkable as the only person who had every survived such a deadly curse. Daisuke wondered how often these kinds of "Dark" things happened.

"_Avada Kedavra_'s a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it," Moody continued, and Daisuke blinked and refocused his attention. "You could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it."

Daisuke was relieved at the last statement. He was sure he would rather be expelled than practice any of those spells.

"Now, if there's no countercurse, why am I showing you? _Because you've got to know,"_ Moody went on, his blue eye hovering on each student in turn, as if to give them the impression that each and every one of them had to be responsible for knowing everything. Daisuke was nodding dumbly. "You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he shouted again, and everyone in the class flinched back again. Daisuke got the impression that "vigilance" was an important word, and that he'd better know its meaning by at least the end of the day.

"Now… those three curses—_Avada Kedavra,_ Imperius, and Cruciatus—are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban." Daisuke had no idea what the teacher was talking about. "That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice _constant, never-ceasing vigilance_. Get out your quills… copy this down…"

Daisuke picked up his quill and then wondered how to spell "vigilance". But just as he was finishing with _never-ceasing_, Professor Moody limped up to him, and plopped a heavy book on his desk. It was The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_._

"You'll want that," he growled, his magical eye roving about the room, checking to see that the other students were properly rolling their parchment flat and getting out their quills. "And unfortunately, you'll have to get your notes from one of your classmates, because I hear that it's time for you to go to a Transfiguration lesson with Professor McGonagall."

Daisuke blinked, and then remembered that he was supposed to go to one of his private lessons halfway through Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Er, thank you," he said quickly, taking the book and putting it into his bag along with his quill and his parchment.

"I'll go over my notes with you this evening," Hermione whispered, sending him off with a little wave and a smile. He nodded back to her, and sidled between the desks and out the door.

Daisuke took a shortcut a watercolor unicorn suggested to him, and arrived at Professor McGonagall's classroom just as the door opened, spilling an avalanche of older students from a different house into the hallway. Some gave him odd looks, but most of them simply ignored him.

He pushed open the heavy wooden door, and walked up towards the front of the room, where Professor McGonagall was sitting, writing something down fluidly. She looked up at him over her spectacles, giving him a curt nod before looking back down at her paperwork.

Feeling a little uncomfortable, Daisuke moved to the seat in the front row, and was about to sit down, when the witch waved him over.

"No, no, don't bother sitting down, Niwa, it's just the two of us," she said, looking up as she folded the notebook away. She gave him a reassuring smile. "Let's get down to business, shall we? Take out your wand…."

* * *

By the end of the day, Daisuke had decided that he would be very fond of his private lessons with Professor McGonagall. Unlike Snape, she had been very patient with him, and gave him _suggested_ reading lists that he could look up if he was having trouble. Also, she seemed very pleased that he could even slightly change the appearance of the pebble they had been practicing with. The pebble had turned black and felt a little softer after his attempts to turn it into a feather (though at first Professor McGonagall had been surprised that the feather had turned _black_ because most students turned things into white feathers, unless they were show-offs, in which case the feathers were peacocks').

He returned to the Gryffindor Common room with Parvati and Lavender that night, Ginny having languished over her meal while speaking to Dean. The three of them sat together in the corner of the room, poring over their Potions homework for Professor Snape. Neville was a short distance off, reading a Herbology book by the fire, while Ron and Harry laughed nearby. It looked as if they were doing homework, but the laughter and the pantomimes of horrible deaths convinced Daisuke otherwise. Fred and George were in the corner opposite Daisuke and the girls, whispering to each other and undoubtedly up to no good. Daisuke sighed. At least their pranks were good-natured, and he had never seen them actually hurt anyone.

Daisuke smiled, realizing how nice it was to actually recognize nearly all of the people in the room. There was still an older blonde girl he didn't know, but she was actually heading off to bed, and other than that… he could nearly call everyone else a friend already. He suddenly yawned, covering his mouth sheepishly and looking back towards Lavender and Parvati, as Fred and George concluded their business in the corner and went upstairs. "I guess I'm more tired than I thought."

Parvati opened her mouth to say more, but a loud rattle suddenly filled the room.

Hermione Granger was now standing in the center of the common room, with a piece of parchment in one hand, and in the other, a small box. On the side of the box, in large, block letters was a word.

SPEW.

"I've just finished!" she proclaimed proudly, holding forth the box and paper towards Harry and Ron.

"So have I!" Ron returned in the same tone, tossing his quill to the floor like a dueling gauntlet. Hermione simply peered over at Ron's paper, and then rolled her eyes.

"Don't you think it's a bit obvious you've made these up?" she asked, stepping back and tossing her head. She sent a concerned look towards Harry.

"How dare you!" Ron retorted in mock outrage, pulling his parchment from the girl's view. Lavender giggled slightly. "We've been working like house-elves here!" Hermione turned to give Ron a stern look, and he added, "It's just an expression."

Daisuke looked back down at his own homework, hoping to get back to his Potions homework. He sighed, thinking of the piles of books he was supposed to read by the end of the semester. Was it even humanly possible to do all of his regular homework, do his private lessons' homework, read all of those books, _and_ practice anti-Krad measures all before Christmas?

"Hey, I think I'm going to bed now, Daisuke," Parvati said quietly, rolling up her parchment. Daisuke nodded. As the two girls packed up, Daisuke considered leaving with them. Then again… he had been hoping he and Ginny would have time to work on their defenses….

"S-P-E-W!" Hermioned shouted at the other boys, startling Daisuke enough so he dropped his quill. Parvati and Lavender hurried away. "I was going to put Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status—but it wouldn't fit. So That's the heading of our manifesto," she continued in a much more dignified tone, thrusting the parchment in her left hand towards her friends. "I've been researching it thoroughly in the library. Elf enslavement goes back centuries. I can't believe no one's done anything about it before now." She shook her head.

"Hermione—open your ears," Ron replied. "They. Like. It. They _like_ being enslaved!"

Daisuke gaped at Ron's words, entirely forgetting about his fallen quill. Slaves? In this day and age? And people just accepted it?

"Our short-term aims," Hermione went on, speaking over the top of Ron and completely ignoring him, "are to secure house-elves fair wages and working conditions. Our long-term aims include changing the law about non-wand use, and trying to get an elf into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, because they're shockingly underrepresented."

To Daisuke, this sounded like very sound logic indeed. He found himself standing, moved by Hermione's empathy for the trodden-on people of the world. He still was having trouble believing that slaves still existed anywhere in the civilized world, much less in Europe. Weren't there laws against it?

"And how do we do all this?" asked Harry, who was still sitting with his parchment in his lap.

Before Hermione could respond, a weary-looking Ginny entered through the Fat Lady's portrait, yawning. She blinked as she noticed Daisuke standing in the corner, and nodded towards the other group. Hermione nodded back, and then turned to answer Harry's question.

"We start by recruiting members. I thought two Sickles to join—that buys a badge—and the proceeds can fund out leaflet campaign. You're treasurer, Ron—I've got you a collecting tin upstairs—and Harry, you're the secretary, so you might want to write down everything I'm saying now, as a record of our first meeting," Hermione explained cheerfully.

"Sorry it's so late, Daisuke," Ginny said apologetically. "But I suppose we can work on a few spells before we get too tired?"

Daisuke nodded, but put a hand in his pocket, looking for two of the coins called Sickles. "Just a moment," he said to her, and then approached the trio by the fire. "I'd like to join," he announced.

"See?" Hermione hissed at Ron. "There are people who share the same values of decency and respect for all creatures as me." She smiled at Daisuke. "You can pay Ron in the morning because we don't have the collecting tin with us, but I can give you your badge now, if you like."

"Sure, thanks." She handed him a yellow badge that said "SPEW" across it in black letters, making it look like an awkward and oversized bumblebee. Nonetheless, Daisuke was proud to support the elves, or whatever it was that was being enslaved. He pinned the badge to the front of his shirt and headed back towards his corner of books and Ginny.

Even though the younger girl hadn't heard Hermione's speech about elf enslavement (though Daisuke was glad she hadn't heard her brother defend the practice), Daisuke convinced her that she should help SPEW raise money. After Ginny had received a badge and given a promise to give two Sickles to her brother in the morning, she sat next to Daisuke and held a book open so they could get to work. The top of the page was labeled "Episkey!" There was an illustration of a man with a cut on his arm, and a witch pointing her wand at it.

"It's a healing spell," Ginny whispered, her green eyes looking into his. "It'll probably be useful." Daisuke nodded, her meaningful look not lost on him. Though he had the feeling that if either of them _were_ injured in the fight against Krad, it'd be more than the tiny cut the man in the picture had.

Ginny went over the basic theory of the spell, and also the correct movements and pronunciation. However, as neither of them were injured and neither particularly wished to be, they had yet to discover if Daisuke were capable of performing the spell accurately. Nonetheless, Ginny turned the page and they went to work on "Ennervate!" As with Episkey, neither one of them were unconscious and they decided it was best to just stick with the theory.

"If you're free during lunch tomorrow, we can work on Alohomora then. The other charms _do_ need to wait until the weekend, but we can just use any old door for Alohomora," Ginny suggested.

"Uh, I don't have anything planned for tomorrow," Daisuke said, spacing out in the direction of the window to think carefully. He wondered if Parvati or Lavender would worry about him being missing at lunch, but figured they'd assume he was elsewhere.

White feathers flashed at the window and Daisuke shot to his feet, thrusting his wand out in front of him automatically. Ginny shrieked and reached for her own, even as Ron yelled in annoyance, Hermione gasped and dropped her box of badges, and Harry rushed to the window.

Daisuke could feel his heart pounding in his ears, and he opened his mouth to yell at Harry to get away from the window, when suddenly, he realized what was out there.

It wasn't Krad. It was an owl.

He collapsed back into his chair with a sigh of profound relief, as Ginny did the same, giving Daisuke a slight shake of her head with a smile. After a moment, during which Harry opened the window for the owl, Daisuke reached down to pick up the fallen books. He was quite glad it had been an owl, but the adrenaline was still racing through his veins and he wondered how effective he would have been if the feathers at the window had actually belonged to Krad.

He looked up at Ginny as he set the books on the table near their seats, but she was staring completely over his head. She raised an eyebrow, and then took the last book from Daisuke.

"I think we're done here for the night, Daisuke," she said rather testily. He blinked at her in confusion, but realized she was still mostly looking across the room behind him. He glanced back, trying to look nonchalant. She was glaring at her brother? "I'll see you in the morning and we can do our very important studying then." She picked up the pile of books and made a curt exit up the dormitory stairs.

"Good night," Hermione called. Daisuke smiled, and made his way to the stairs with his own book, leaving the common room empty except for Hermione, Ron, a worried-looking Harry, and the white owl.

* * *

_Author's Note: Well, as usual, sorry for the wait. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I figured I'd best get this out before anyone thought I was dead. Please review!_


	16. Chapter 16

**Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief**

**Chapter 16**

* * *

Daisuke couldn't help but feel that Ron was exactly the wrong person to serve as SPEW's treasurer, but he firmly ignored the warning look in the other boy's eye and proudly dropped his two Sickles in the tin before he left for breakfast. Harry was already gone, and Neville was still tangled in his blankets, making odd blubbering noises in his sleep. Dean and Seamus were just waking up as he left, so he waved.

Daisuke sat next to Hermione at breakfast, smiling as he noticed she had the SPEW badges with her.

"Good morning," she said, giving him a bright smile when her eyes found his bumblebee SPEW badge on his chest. "Glad to see that someone else supports the cause," she said, spooning some porridge into her bowl.

Daisuke nodded. "I don't know much about the magical world, but… I was surprised to hear that people keep slaves." He helped himself to the porridge as well.

Hermione shook her head. "Most people don't even think of house elves as _people_, so it's easy for them to just pretend they don't have feelings." She expressed her outrage at her bowl, slurping noisily.

"They don't show them as much appreciation, and they don't respect them like they should," Daisuke said slowly, thinking of all the artwork he had ever met. The ones who had caused trouble had only done so out of loneliness, or some other emotion caused by the neglect or disregard of the humans around them. He imagined it must be a lot like that to be a slave, though probably worse.

"Exactly," Hermione responded, taking a bite. She swallowed, and then suddenly the Great Hall filled with the sounds of feathers and the morning's post arrived. Daisuke couldn't help but feel nervous at the sound, and at the sight of the drifting white feathers, even though they were among brown and tawny ones. He shivered as packages rained down like bombs on the students, reminding him of the frightening power of Krad's pearly white feathers.

He looked away as the owls departed nearly as swiftly as they had come, and noticed that Hermione was watching him strangely.

"Are you—?" Hermione began, just as Daisuke began to insist, "I'm fi—"

Both, however, were interrupted by a loud and familiar noise. "Kyuuu!"

Daisuke's face lit up and he turned towards the source of the sound, finding his white rabbit on the bench next to him, a small envelope between his little jaws. He plucked up the creature and held him close.

"Wiz! I'm so glad to see you!" He laughed as he gave Wiz a big hug, and then set him back down on the seat. Wiz dropped the letter into his lap, and Daisuke reached to the center of the table for a strawberry which otherwise would have served as a topping for his breakfast. "I'm glad you're okay, Wiz. I was a little worried about sending you, but it looks like you made it okay." He fed the rabbit the treat, and then scratched him behind the ears as he picked up the letter with his other hand.

"Was that… a rabbit?" Hermione asked, stunned, but obviously mesmerized by the cute ball of white fluff.

Daisuke nodded. "He's my magical pet." He noticed the look in Hermione's eyes, having seen it in girls before, and picked up Wiz with one hand, holding him over the table. "You can hold him if you want. His name is Wiz."

Hermione was happy to cuddle with the rabbit, and Wiz was happy to have the attention as Daisuke opened the envelope. To his surprise, two sheets of paper fell from it.

One, the larger one, said _"To Daisuke"_ at the top in Riku's handwriting, giving Daisuke a happy, warm feeling he hadn't felt for some time, and the other… simply had his name at the top in a handwriting he didn't recognize.

He decided to save Riku's for last (so he could savor it longer) and unfolded the other envelope, glancing down to the bottom to see who had signed it. He gasped.

It was signed, _"Be careful, Satoshi"_. His eyes flipped back to the top. What was Hiwatari doing with Riku?

"_Dear Daisuke,_

_I won't go into much detail because I'm sure Riku has done that quite nicely for you. At any rate, don't worry about the three of us. We've made it to the Harada-Dupont Reunion safely, and are planning on staying out of sight, and away from artwork. I suggest you do the same._

_Riku told me you're at a magical school, Daisuke, and that you believe you are safe there. However, I have reason to believe that the magicians you trust are in league with Krad. When I went to check on the Black Wings I was attacked by a group of wizards, and held for some time before Dark helped me escape. I believe the wizards are the reason the Black Wings have awoken once more, and they are aiding Krad in his search for you and me. I advise you to tell no one of your relationship to Dark or Krad._

_Try to learn as much as you can without exposing yourself to the enemy, Daisuke._

_Be careful,_

_Satoshi"_

The Great Hall suddenly loomed around him, the voices of the other students echoing harshly off the castle walls. The wizards… were responsible? All of his new friends, including Hermione, who was still petting and playing with Wiz, were possible suspects? All of his teachers might be behind the scheme? Daisuke could feel his stomach sinking, and he lost his appetite as he stared blankly at his lump of cooling porridge.

Why had he only been accepted to the school so recently, anyway? Had the evil wizards been waiting for Die Schwarze-Flügel to awaken?

Diasuke could feel his throat constrict a little, and his pulse speed up. Was there anyone here he could trust? Or were they all, as Hiwatari had called them, "the enemy?"

"Hey Daisuke!" called a familiar voice, and Ginny suddenly swung into the seat next to him, though in the light of recent information, even Ginny's bright eyes and infectious smile seemed foreign. She peered at him when he failed to respond with something other than a wide-eyed stare. "Is everything okay?"

He nodded slowly, and then held up the letter. "Just… some bad news… from home," he lied woodenly. Ginny's brow crinkled, and she mouthed a single syllable. Daisuke had no trouble reading "Krad" on her lips.

"Bad news?" Hermione asked from across the table, her tone sounding sympathetic. She held out Wiz to him.

Daisuke nodded, still reeling as everything about the people and this place seemed entirely too distant. "I… need to go for a bit," he said slowly, taking Wiz, and tucking the letters back into the envelope.

His feet took him past crowds of black-robed students, and a few teachers, until he found himself alone on the front steps of the castle, with no one but a lonely wind and Wiz in his arms. Could everyone else really be… an enemy?

"Wiz… it can't be that _all_ of them are after me, right?" he asked the red-eyed rabbit. Wiz cuddled closer, and gave his companion a soft "kyuu." Daisuke shook his head, and stared across the lawn. What if coming to Hogwarts in the first place had been a trap?

"Daisuke!"

He turned around suddenly, and caught sight of the large, heavy doors closing behind Ginny Weasley. He carefully watched her approach. Could she really be a foe rather than a friend? There was no way she was in league with Krad, right?

Her brow wrinkled as she approached him. "Daisuke, what happened?" She looked concerned. There was no way she was faking an expression like that, was there?

He realized he was simply staring at her, and he looked away suddenly. "Er, nothing." He couldn't depend on anyone else anymore. He was entirely on his own now. Hiwatari had been attacked, possibly by some of the very same people that were eating breakfast in the Great Hall at that very mo—

"Snap out of it, Daisuke! We're in this together, right?" Ginny's voice cut through his thoughts, as did her hands, which gripped his shoulders and shook him roughly. She shoved her face into his own, and gave him a very stern stare. "What _happened?"_

Daisuke blinked, and then sighed, a relieved smile falling into place. There was no way he could doubt her intentions. If she were trying to manipulate him into some sort of plan, she probably wouldn't be shaking him hard enough to convince him his head might just roll off his shoulders. So far, Ginny had done nothing but prove herself a friend.

Furthermore, Daisuke didn't want to live his life doubting everyone around him. He didn't want to become the kind of person that couldn't take anyone at face-value, that needed some kind of impossible proof of friendliness before he let down his guard. He would rather take the risk, and trust people like Ginny Weasley, rather than become a lonely and distrustful person. It must be hard to become someone like Hiwatari, to be afraid to trust people….

Then again, Daisuke was still getting shaken like a rag doll in Ginny's tight grasp. Wiz leapt free and watched from the top step.

"Augh!" he yelled, breaking free of her grasp by falling over backwards into the steps. "Look, I just got a weird letter, that's all."

Ginny looked pleased, and then immediately puzzled. "Weird letter?" she echoed.

Daisuke sat up, shaking his head and staring at the ground. "It's from a friend. He says he was attacked by… wizards." He lifted his eyes to meet Ginny, who appeared more confused than worried. "Krad's working with wizards, Ginny. He could be already infiltrating the school, and we don't have any idea who might be working with him already." He stared straight into her green eyes. "We have to be much more careful now. We can't let anyone else know."

Ginny's eyebrows rose in surprise, and her green eyes loomed closer. "If Krad is as bad as you say he is, then it sounds like the work of Dark wizards," she told him quietly.

"Dark wizards?" he asked, thinking, as usual, of Dark.

Ginny nodded, looking away. "There's been… events, recently. Like at the Quidditch World Cup." She shook her head, her expression hard. "I wonder if the two are related…."

"Er, the Quidditch World Cup?" Daisuke asked, blinking.

"You didn't hear about it?" she asked, surprised. "Someone cast the Dark Mark, and a group of Death Eaters were terrorizing Muggles."

Daisuke blinked again. "What's the Dark Mark?" From the top step, Wiz made a soft noise. Daisuke turned around and pulled the rabbit into his lap.

"It's You-Know-Who's sign," Ginny said, her eyes widening even more in amazement. "You… don't tell me you've never… you don't know who that is, do you." She sighed and then sat down next to him, idly petting Wiz. Suddenly she laughed. "It's like talking to Harry all over again."

"Uh, is it?"

She nodded, and bumped her elbow into his arm affectionately. "Harry was raised as a Muggle, too, you know."

"Actually, I didn't know." He sighed. Sometimes he realized that he hadn't even been at his new school for a week. This was one of those times. "So do you think I should go talk to him?"

Ginny shook her head. "He doesn't really like talking about You-Know-Who and all that. For him, it's… personal stuff." The wind rustled by, and Wiz cuddled closer to the two of them, trying to keep warm.

"Anyway," Ginny continued, "twenty years ago or so, there was this really powerful Dark wizard. He terrorized everyone else, and was nearly unstoppable. He had these followers, who were called Death Eaters. Whenever they did something, like a murder or a kidnapping, they'd put their sign into the air. That's the Dark Mark. After years of rampaging about, this Dark wizard went after Harry's parents. They were killed, but somehow Harry survived, and You-Know-Who was defeated."

Daisuke stared in shock. And Harry seemed so normal for having such a tragic past. "So the evil wizard's name is… Yunohu?" Daisuke asked, hugging Wiz.

Ginny shook her head. "No one says his name—that's how afraid people were. Instead, it's just obvious who you're talking about. You _know_ who it is, so it's You-Know-Who." She looked down at her hands, which were clasped in her lap. "Only Dumbledore and Harry ever say his name out loud."

Daisuke took a deep breath. "So, there's a new You-Know-Who in town? Is that what the Quidditch World Cup stuff means?"

Again, Ginny shook her head, the wind catching her red hair. "It means that his followers, the Death Eaters, are still out there. They don't want to be forgotten. But this is bad news, especially when we figure that whoever is after _you_ is in league with some wizards. You're a nice guy, Daisuke. I can't imagine that anyone good would have it in for you."

It was Daisuke's turn to look down, feeling a slight blush. It wasn't often he was complimented like that, and so frankly. Especially after he had just been doubting Ginny!

"I guess we just have to watch out for these Dark wizards," Daisuke said with a sigh. "You'll have to tell me what they look like, Ginny, so I can avoid them." He looked over at her with a slight smile. As long as they were working together, it seemed like they would be all right. Perhaps.

But the girl shook her head. "Daisuke, no one knows what they look like. That's the thing. They always wore these masks, so no one would know. It made them that much harder to track down."

Daisuke stiffened. He turned to the girl with a serious expression. "That means we can't tell anyone else about any of this, Ginny. Who says the Dark wizards haven't infiltrated the school? Hiwatari's letter was warning me about this. He says that there are probably people here who we can't trust."

Ginny nodded, but her forehead wrinkled "Who's Hiwatari?"

Daisuke held up his letter from the boy. "He's a friend of mine. He said he was already attacked by Krad." Daisuke was worried about his friends. At least Dark had been there to help. With a pang, he thought of Dark, the Phantom Thief… his other self.

"Did he help you and Dark fight off Krad last time?" she asked, and Daisuke responded with a nod.

Suddenly, the bell chimed throughout the castle and tolled across the lawns. Both the students jumped, and then laughed nervously, getting to their feet and heading back inside.

* * *

After opening and locking doors with Ginny during the latter part of the lunch hour and half of an excruciating potions lesson in Snape's dungeon, Daisuke excused himself and made his way up to a private lesson with Professor Moody. He knocked on the door cautiously, and then stepped inside.

Professor Moody snapped shut a book, and his magical blue eye focused on Daisuke along with his regular one. Daisuke nodded and opened his mouth to say hello, but Moody spoke first.

"Alright," his guttural voice barked out, "sit down in front here and let's get started, Niwa. You're far behind your peers, and we don't have a lot of time to get you up to snuff. So, let's start on the basics.

"There are several areas of study in Defense Against the Dark Arts." Moody held up a gnarled hand and ticked each area of study off as he listed them. "First, you've got your study of Dark wizards and their practices. Second, your Dark objects. Third, your Dark flora and fauna. Fourth, you've got Dark curses, and the fifth hardly counts— it's recognizing Dark stuff. I think that's pretty obvious. The Dark things are the ones that get you seriously hurt." He gave a dry chuckle, and then smiled down at Daisuke as his blue eye spun around the room.

Daisuke nodded, reaching into his bag for his quill and parchment.

"Don't bother writing this stuff down. We're going to get into some practical stuff in a moment. The best way to help you defend against the Dark Arts is to expose you to a few. So we're going to go and find a few examples. Have you ever heard of a grindylow?"

* * *

"And then we went down to the edge of the forest and looked at these vines that can attack people! I got to let them wrap up my ankles, and then shoo them away with _lumos_," Daisuke explained happily to Ginny as they made their way to the library after dinner.

"Sounds neat," Ginny said encouragingly. She sighed as they waited for a moving staircase to move into place. "I wish I could have private lessons with Professor Moody."

Daisuke shook his head. "It's fun, but everyone else already knows all this stuff. I've got lots of homework to do this weekend." He stepped onto the staircase. "And there's, you know, what _we're_ doing, too. You should see the pile of books Professor Snape is having me read!" He hung his head as they reached the top stair and stood in front of the double doors of the library. "If Krad doesn't get me, I'll die from too much studying," he said hopelessly, though he knew it wasn't really true. He could keep up with his schoolwork.

Besides, magic was fun. And very useful. If only he had learned how to magically unlock doors when he had still been a Phantom Thief….

"I'm sure you'll be fine, Daisuke," Ginny told him, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Dumbledore wouldn't ask you to do it if he didn't think you could," she continued. "I mean, you could say he expects a lot from Hogwarts students, but… it only makes us stronger, you know?" She pushed open the doors and the cathedral-like hush commonplace to libraries around the world enveloped them.

It being the first Friday of the new term, there weren't that many students busy in the library. And of those who were in the library, it appeared that only Hermione was doing any work. There was a group of Hufflepuff girls passing notes to each other as they worked their way through a cheesy-looking paperback called I Fell in Love with a Vampire. A Ravenclaw boy was climbing up a sliding ladder, and in the corner, surrounded by books on history, magical creatures, and magical law, was Hermione, busy taking notes and flipping through indexes. He waved, but she didn't look up so he pretended he had meant to scratch his head all along. Ginny picked a table to work at and they put their bags down next to it.

The third-year witch silently motioned him towards the back of the library, and then down a narrow aisle with walls of books on either side. She spoke in a quiet whisper. "We're looking for books on protection charms. They should be in this section. We'll get as many as we can find, and then bring them to our table and look for anything helpful. Got it?"

Daisuke nodded and looked around for the word "protection" in any of the titles near his face. Ginny took a few steps down the aisle, running a finger across the spines of the books.

Daisuke tilted his head sideways, and peered carefully at the silver and gold titles embossed on the leather spines. Magical Maladies: A Comprehensive Guide, Warning Signs of Climatic Disaster, Percival's Pocket Guide to Practical Potions,and several other books later, Daisuke's head tapped a sliding ladder. He rubbed his head and gave Ginny a sheepish smile as she rolled her eyes at him and went back to checking for good books. She already had two in her arm, and Daisuke was beginning to feel decidedly slow.

He climbed onto the first rung of the ladder, and then decided to go up a bit more to see better. He looked around, and then smiled. Protection Against Dark Foes glittered back in silver letters. He snatched it from the shelf and then continued looking, holding it with his left hand and keeping his right firmly on the ladder.

Two hours later, the library was closing and Daisuke and Ginny were no closer to finding any spells that could protect them from magical artwork. Daisuke had learned a lot about how to protect himself from vampires, banshees, and pixies, but the closest they had to protection from artwork was how to recognize dangerous jewelry.

He sighed in frustration as they put their books on the reshelving cart and headed out of the library.

"I guess next time we'll check in the art section, though it's probably just art history and stuff," Ginny said wearily. She hiked her bag higher up on her shoulder and they walked down a marble staircase. When they reached the landing, the pair was greeted by a handsome man in a dark, acrylic portrait.

"And how did you fare with your research?" he asked, peering out at Daisuke from underneath a top hat.

Ginny looked startled to be addressed by the portrait, but Daisuke shrugged and heaved another sigh. "We're having some difficulties, actually," he said glumly. He rubbed his eyes and the portrait laughed good-naturedly.

"I wish I could help, but there are so few paintings in the library and I get along rather poorly with them," the painting replied, flashing an apologetic smile.

"Well," Daisuke began, "unless you know how wizards can protect themselves from dangerous artwork…." He shook his head as he trailed off and Ginny yawned.

The young man in the painting laughed again. "I'm surprised that _you're_ looking for that information in the library!" He leaned towards his frame, and held up a hand as if speaking to Daisuke in a conspiratorial manner. "One would think you were already well-acquainted with that field. I thought for certain that you were an expert, in fact. Isn't protecting the Muggle masses from dangerous art your specialty?" The painting raised an eyebrow and leaned back.

Daisuke blinked for a moment, and then shook his head. "That… was Dark. It wasn't me." Although he knew that Dark had needed him to do all the things he did, the truth was that all of the magic had come from the Phantom Thief.

The painting shrugged. "If you say so, Zähmender. But I'm sure you have the same talent and the same tools available," he said simply. Ginny was watching the exchange with a curiosity in her green eyes that would have killed Crookshanks.

"Dark always used feathers," Daisuke told the painting. "And unless I want to pluck them out of Wiz, I can't do that."

"Oh? You haven't ever wondered what's in that stick you carry around in your pocket?" he asked slyly. He maintained eye contact with Daisuke for a moment longer, and then removed his top hat and bowed. "It's curfew, young Zähmender, and I wouldn't want to get either of you in trouble." His eyes darted to Ginny as he referenced her. "Off you go!"

The pair scurried away and didn't speak until they were climbing into the Gryffindor common room, safe from Filch or his watchful tabby. There were only a few sleepy-looking first-years clustered around a book in the common room, everyone else accustomed to Friday nights at Hogwarts and tired after a week of classes besides.

"Half the things that painting said…" Ginny started quietly, her eyes still wide, "I have no idea what it meant." She shook her head and then peered at Daisuke sharply. "Why do the paintings seem to know you so well?"

Daisuke shrugged. "I guess they know Dark, or at least have heard of him."

She still didn't look satisfied. "I get that you're Dark's friend or whatever, but I dunno, it seems a lot like _you're_ the famous one among the Hogwarts paintings. I mean, they're always sending you messages and asking you how your day is going… and it's not like they do that for anyone else.

"Is there some part of this that you're not telling me?"

Daisuke suddenly felt uncomfortable with Ginny's green eyes piercing him like that. She wasn't accusing him, not yet anyway, but it was the sort of thing that made him want to squirm. Her quiet, simple tone wasn't helping him feel good about keeping things from her, especially when she asked directly.

But… there was no way she could know that he was more than just Dark's friend. If anyone found out that Daisuke was, in truth, a notorious thief, he'd probably get expelled. Maybe it was okay for the school paintings to know, because they hadn't breathed a word to anyone and they could apparently tell by looking at him that he was Dark's tamer, but still… there was no way he could tell Ginny that he _was_ the Phantom Thief.

He shook his head. "I think that painting just had the wrong idea. I helped Dark seal up artwork, but Dark actually did most of the work. And we even had help from a lot of other people when we sealed Die Schwarze-Flügel, so…." He shrugged.

Ginny nodded and flopped down on a chair, staring into the fire. He yawned and looked up the staircase to the dormitory. Perhaps it was time to go to bed.

"Daisuke?" Ginny suddenly asked, turning her head to look at him. "What's in your wand?"

Daisuke blinked, and pulled his wand from his pocket, staring at it with a sense of contentment. After a moment, he looked up at Ginny. "What do you mean 'in it'?" he asked, looking confused.

Ginny rolled her eyes, an expression he was rapidly becoming very familiar with. "Well, it's not just a pretty piece of wood. It has to have something magical inside it, right? Like a unicorn hair, a dragon scale, or a phoenix feather?" she pressed, informing him and making him feel like an idiot for not thinking of that himself.

"Er… I don't know," he confessed, which brought a look of surprise to her face.

"You don't know? I mean, I know you picked yours up from Dumbledore, but he didn't tell you what's inside it?" she asked.

"No."

"And you didn't think to ask?"

Daisuke threw his arms up. "I didn't know that there's stuff _inside_ a wand! It looks like a piece of wood!" But… he knew, with his first touch to the wand, that it wasn't an ordinary piece of wood. It was more familiar and the attachment he felt to it was… difficult to describe.

_You haven't ever wondered what's in that stick you carry around in your pocket?_ The painting's question echoed in his mind. Could the man in the top hat know what made his wand magical? _I'm sure you have the same talent and the same tools available,_ the painting had said.

Daisuke rotated his wand slowly, watching the firelight dance across its polished edge. Daisuke certainly had the talents of a Phantom Thief. Thanks to his mother and grandfather, he'd been working on those since birth. But the same tools available? Daisuke had been speaking of feathers, of feathers belonging to Dark….

And Ginny had said that some wands contain feathers….

Did his wand have inside it… a feather… from Dark? The elegant wood of his wand seemed to glow orange in the dim light of the common room and pulse with a familiar heartbeat. Daisuke felt bathed in a familiar sensation, wrapped up in something like an extension of himself. It wasn't like holding a close friend's hand, but more like holding his own. The wand… it was _Dark_, or at least a piece of him, right here.

Could it be that Dark had never been able to bring himself to entirely separate from Daisuke? That Dark had been unable to leave him behind without any reminders? Even though Daisuke had not known about Hogwarts and wizards and magic wands, it seemed as if Dark had guessed where Daisuke was headed, and had left him a very precious gift.

His connection with Dark, although distant, was still just as strong as it had always been. He lifted his eyes to meet Ginny's. Once again, she was watching him curiously.

"I just realized… it's got to be a feather from Dark," he told her, wondering why his eyes felt like they were stinging. It wasn't like he was going to cry because he'd figured out that his wand was a keepsake from Dark as well as a powerful tool. He rubbed at one eye furiously, gripping his wand tightly in the other.

Ginny sighed and looked away. "And a moment ago you said you had no idea," she reminded him. However, she simply shrugged and yawned, apparently deciding not to pursue the subject any further.

Daisuke hadn't even noticed when the first-years had left the common room, but when he caught Ginny's infectious yawn, he realized that they were the only two left. He gave her a smile.

"I think I'll go to bed, now," he told her sleepily, and Ginny started a little before nodding.

He stood from the comfy chair, and turned up towards the steps to the boys' dormitories. "Good night, Ginny," he called.

"Wait… Daisuke?" her voice came out suddenly, and as he turned back around, she approached him, her green eyes troubled. "What's… zemender?"

Daisuke blinked, wondering what on Earth she was talking about. And then he remembered what the painting had said, just before they had hurried back to the common room.

"_Zähmender_," he corrected. He thought about the word for a moment, and then spoke, his voice soft. "I think… in English, it's… tamer."

Ginny shook her head, trying to let him know that she didn't really get it. He shrugged, and went up the stairs to bed, not entirely sure he wanted to explain. He set his wand down next to his bed, and climbed under the covers, snuggling with a sleepy Wiz. Ginny would just have to live with it, because he probably _couldn't_ have explained the word any better to her.

Because if he really thought about it, Daisuke had no clue why he was supposed to be the person who _tamed_ Dark.

* * *

The next morning was busy for Daisuke. Before breakfast, he had read Riku's letter and was filled with both concern and relief throughout the rest of the day. At least Ginny seemed to have either forgiven him for his sudden departure the night before or simply forgotten it. During breakfast, she talked almost without pausing for breath or swallowing, and convinced Daisuke that they would be able to get through many of the spells he needed to learn. Hermione, who was at Ginny's side, seemed impressed with their aspirations, and even gave Ginny and Daisuke some tips on how to practice some of them.

Ron and Harry arrived in time to hear the tail end of Hermione's explanation of the Jelly-Curses and their countercurses.

"What's this?" Ron asked, sliding onto the bench next to Hermione. "Not a reincarnation of Lockhart's Dueling Club, is it?" he quirked a smile at Harry, who nodded back and helped himself to some breakfast.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm just helping Ginny help Daisuke get caught up, that's all." She turned back to Ginny. "It's more about precision of wand movement than incantation," she explained.

Ginny nodded, and Daisuke just smiled and nodded along, even though he was having difficulty following.

He and Ginny passed Lavender on their way out of the Great Hall, and he waved, wondering where Parvati had gone, seeing as the two girls were usually together. But the rest of the morning, he didn't spend any more time wondering, because his attention was focused on casting difficult spells and trying to block the ones Ginny sent his way.

By lunchtime, Daisuke had been given Jelly Legs, a Jelly Brain, Jelly Fingers, and Knee-Reversal. Fortunately, none of them were painful (though the Knee-Reversal was decidedly uncomfortable). He had also been tied up with ropes via Ginny's Incarcerous Curse, and considered himself moderately successful with an Impediment Jinx. His own skills at Jelly-ing Ginny were less so, but she told him he was getting the hang of it.

The pair was ravenously hungry for lunch, and set about levitating objects in Flitwick's classroom afterwards. Ginny was convinced that Daisuke had a knack for sending things zooming into the air, and after a few hours, their study time had turned into a mid-air collision contest between pincushions, small blocks of wood, and even pieces of chalk. The chalk, however, had the tendency to explode into a fine powder, so they decided to stick to the pincushions.

By four, however, they were exhausted.

"And I still have my potions reading to do," Daisuke complained, thudding his forehead onto one of the tables.

"At least reading doesn't involve so much arm movement," Ginny said. "Ugh, I have a paper to write for Binns," she said darkly.

Daisuke let his head loll to the side. "Me, too, remember?" He sighed, and Ginny laughed.

"Let's get started then, right?"

* * *

Sunday progressed in much the same fashion as Saturday, although both were obliged to spend more time working on their actual schoolwork than they were practicing anti-Krad measures. In the evening, Daisuke finished his Divination homework with help from Parvati and then sent Wiz to Paris with a freshly-written letter to Riku, updating her about his activities at school. There were smaller pages for Risa and Hiwatari, but the bulk of it went to Riku. She was, after all, his girlfriend.

And then it was another week of school, characterized by lots of potions reading, and attempts to stay awake in each History of Magic lecture. He constantly found himself waking up or coming out of a daze towards the end of each lesson (except for the one he shared with Ginny because neither of them managed to pay attention and the one with Harry because the two of them took turns poking Ron awake), but realized that it was much more fun studying the material with Hermione than it was learning it from Professor Binns. Daisuke was surprised by how much the ugly Skrewts had grown in only a week, and extremely grateful that Parvati helped him read his tea leaves in Divination. During his private lesson with Professor Sprout, he replanted Viney Blogtrops, which was much more fun than separating the layers of pus they had collected from the Bubotubers, which was the task he shared with the rest of the fourth-year Gryffindors. His lesson with Snape was much more difficult, because the black-robed professor leaned over his cauldron with narrow eyes while he attempted to brew a potion he couldn't even pronounce the name to. Snape even forbid him from reading the German translation, so the potion turned out to be much more viscous than it should have been. By the time the class period was over, Daisuke still hadn't managed to pull his stirring spoon out of the hardening mass. As punishment, Snape ordered him to finish one of the required books by the following Monday. In Transfiguration, Daisuke managed to turn Professor McGonagall's pebble into a sleek, black feather, but was still desperately unable to keep up with the rest of his class and perform a simple switching spell.

By Friday, Daisuke felt like he was sleepwalking through the day. He had spent all his waking hours either in class, studying for his teachers, or researching the Silencio-Inductrus Charm with Ginny. He had the feeling that Professor Flitwick was going easy on him in his private lesson, but he really had no idea. Fortunately, his last class of the week was a private lesson with Professor Moody, and took place mostly in Moody's office, where he was introduced to things like Sneakoscopes and Trusty Digits which could detect lies or the Dark Arts. However much he liked his lessons with Moody, though, he was happy when the week was finally over.

He felt nearly too tired to even pick up his tea leaf chart when he returned to the Gryffindor common room. According to Ginny and even Hermione, Daisuke was beginning to get the hang of magic, but he still felt as if he were decades rather than years behind. He yawned and resolved to reach out and pick up a book—any book, because at this point he had so much homework and studying to do that it didn't matter which he started with.

"You okay, Daisuke?" Harry asked, stepping away from Ron for a moment.

Daisuke nearly flinched awake, although he hadn't really been sleeping. "Huh?"

"Are you alright?" the black haired boy repeated.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Daisuke said, feeling sheepish. "It's just… there's a lot of homework." He tried to stifle a yawn, and ended up just covering his mouth.

"Yeah, it seems like they're really laying it on us this year," Harry commiserated. "There's a rumor that it's because of the Triwizard Tournament. Dumbledore doesn't want his students looking lazy or something, but I don't buy it." Harry shook his head.

"Er, is that so? I really have no idea. I think it's just really hard because I don't normally speak English," Daisuke admitted, sighing.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I suppose that would make it harder. Though I think your English is getting lots better."

"Thanks." It was a relief to hear that from _someone_. He had the feeling that Snape thought his accent or his ability to read English was entirely deplorable, and Care of Magical Creatures was always taxing because he had trouble understanding Hagrid (not to mention the trouble with being around the Skrewts).

* * *

"Well, since we don't have that much time today—you're going to visit Hagrid's pets and I've got… _something_ planned…." Ginny's face tinged slightly pink but Daisuke didn't ask. Obviously she wanted to keep it to herself, and he had the feeling it had something to do with Dean, anyway.

Daisuke nodded. "Yeah, let's get started.

Ginny nodded as if it would clear away her blush. "Yeah." She busied herself with opening up the book to the right page and by the time she had set it on Professor Flitwick's empty desk, she was all business.

Daisuke gave her a determined nod and pulled out the items he had borrowed from various teachers. The school nurse had been happy to loan him a basin that they could fill with water, and Professor McGonagall had supplied some chalk. They were both thankful that the charm didn't require anything from Professor Snape's stores, as neither of them wanted to ask him for anything and risk revealing their plans. Both Daisuke and Ginny felt that out of any of the teachers at Hogwarts, Snape was most likely to be working with Krad.

"So… let's move those tables and we can draw on the floor there," Ginny said, pointing to a corner of the room. The grabbed a table and tugged it away, and Ginny fetched the silver basin as Daisuke moved another table. With a word, she filled it with water and set it in the middle of their newly-cleared space. She handed him the chalk. "You draw, and I'll recite. Remember we have to say the names together, right?"

Daisuke nodded. "And when we reach the end, it's a spiral and a jab with our wands." The spell involved three people: Ginny Weasley and Daisuke Niwa, the casters, and Krad Hikari, the target. To invoke it properly, each caster had to state their name and recite the target's name in unison. He crouched around the basin, bringing to mind the design that the spell needed. Two circles around the water, and then a shape recognizing the two casters and the single target—a triangle. At one corner, another triangle radiating outwards, to single out the target. A pentagon at Ginny's corner of the triangle and a six-sided star at his own, due to some position of a constellation at their births and the number of syllables in their mothers' maiden names, and then a line connecting the two shapes. At certain intervals near the shapes, Daisuke was supposed to draw specific runes. He had let Ginny figure out which runes to use, so he really had no idea what they were supposed to mean, even if he knew he could draw them properly.

He glanced up at Ginny, who was standing nearby, the book open in her arms. "Ready," he said.

As she started reciting the words, which sounded a lot like Latin or the rest of the words used in magic spells, Daisuke put the chalk to the floor and began drawing the circles. She paused to take a breath, and he began on the triangle, adding some runes next to it.

He looked up at Ginny, meeting her green eyes as his chalk hovered over the space where the target triangle was supposed to go. She finished her incantation and gave him a slight nod.

"Krad Hikari," they said together. He wrote a few runes on each side of the triangle, and then drew a pentagon at another corner of the triangle, and moved back so Ginny could step on it.

"Ginevra Weasley," she proclaimed.

He waited for her to finish her name before drawing a six-sided star on his own corner, and then stepping forward onto it. "Daisuke Niwa," he said, trying to mimic her confident tone.

He reached down, and drew half of the line, passing the chalk to Ginny so she could finish it. Looking at each other, they brought up their wands, and then spiraled them down towards the floor, ending with a jab towards the basin and the words, "_Intruductus-Silencio!"_

For a moment, nothing happened. And then, the water in the basin shivered. A drop bounced up from the center, and then fell back down, echoing around the room in a _plop_ that was much louder than it should have been.

Suddenly, the walls were screeching. The water basin shuddered under the noise.

Daisuke slapped his hands over his ears, and looked at Ginny in confusion. She was grimacing and clapping her own hands over her ears, but, like Daisuke, was discovering that doing so had no effect. The sound was coming from somewhere inside their heads.

"How do we turn it off?!" he yelled, dropping his hands and squeezing his eyes shut.

Ginny took a step forward and kicked the water basin. As the water splashed out, the noise died down to a sloppy trickle, and then ceased. Daisuke hung his head as he surveyed the ruined triangles and the empty water basin.

"I'm not sure we got it right," Ginny said, rubbing at her ears. "Maybe I pronounced something wrong...." She looked down at the book in her arms. "Your runes looked good, though. Let's try it again."

Daisuke nodded and righted the water basin. Ginny quickly erased the chalk and dried up the wet spot with a wave of her wand, and encouraged Daisuke to _aguamenti_ the water into the basin. He was moderately successful on his third try, and in a few moments, they were ready to try again.

Unfortunately, their results were the same. Daisuke nudged the basin over with his toe to stop the noise, and then shuddered, hoping he wasn't going to go prematurely deaf by attempting this spell every weekend without any success.

Ginny, however, looked puzzled as she inspected the emptying silver basin and the markings on the floor. "I was certain we were doing it correctly…" she said, biting her lower lip.

"Maybe it just requires skill we don't have yet," Daisuke said simply, slouching into a chair. It was difficult trying to do things that were years beyond them. "I mean, figuring out the incantation required a lot of math, and my circles are obviously not perfectly round." He rubbed the back of his neck absently. "Maybe we can find an easier spell?"

Ginny nodded and sat down next to him. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But I really thought it would work!" She rolled her eyes and exhaled an exasperated sigh. "Oh, whatever. We'll figure something else out." She stood suddenly, and turned to give him a flash of her usual smile.

Daisuke smiled back, confident that despite this obstacle, they would indeed figure something out. She put the book back into her bag and cleaned up their mess, moving with a determined energy that meant she would see it all through to the end. Daisuke began moving the tables back into position, glancing out the window to catch the reflection of the cloudy sky in the lake. Certainly they would find a way.

Because if they didn't…. Daisuke didn't want to dwell on that too much. He took his bag and the silver basin, and followed Ginny, closing the door behind them.

* * *

_Author's Note: As usual, thanks for being patient! I'll see you all for the next (Satoshi) chapter. Huzzah to subtle foreshadowing themes and making up magical spells. I hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review! Criticisms welcome, and sorry if this is full of typos.... I haven't proofread it as carefully as I normally do.  
_


	17. Chapter 17

_Author's Note: I don't usually like to take up space here, but I thought I might as well offer a little bit of warning. This chapter, as it belongs to Satoshi, is a little bit heavy in artistic knowledge. To add to your reading enjoyment, here are some links to some artworks mentioned in the chapter. If you are already familiar with the art, then you can still admire it through the links. It is not necessary for this story to read up on the history of each work, though I do believe that appreciation of the fine arts is excellent for the mind in general. (Yes, I do send you to Wikipedia for some of these, but get over it. Wiki has pictures, which is the main point.) Since doesn't like links, just take out the space between the italics and non-italics parts of the web address.  
_

_The Tanis Sphinx: _http://louvre_ .fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225190&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225190&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500776&bmLocale=en_

_Isis Nursing Her Son Horus:_ http://louvre _.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=18970_

_King Childebert I: _http://louvre_ .fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225943&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673225943&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500779&baseIndex=6&bmLocale=en_

_The following can be found on Wikipedia: Antonio Conova's Psyche Revived By Cupid's Kiss, Caravaggio's Fortune Teller, and Jacques-Louis David's Napoleon Crossing the Alps. _

_Johannes Vermeer's The Astronomer:_ http://essentialvermeer _.com/_ catalogue. _html_

_Nike of Samothrace: (You may know her as Winged Victory.): _http://louvre _.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_?CONTENTcnt_id=10134198673225805&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICEcnt_id=10134198673225805&FOLDERfolder_id=9852723696500817&bmLocale=en_

_Also, I found this group of art really amazing and rather fun. Be sure to scroll down to get the full effect. ;) : http://_ worth _1000_ .com/contests/21745/stoned-reality-4

_And without further ado, happy reading!_

LINE BREAK

**Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief**

**Chapter 17**

* * *

"Oh, no, we're really…." Risa began, inserting a huge yawn into her sentence. To Satoshi, the fakery was obvious.

"Really tired," Riku added, blinking sleepily. _"C'est un vrai coup de barre,"_ she added in French.

Satoshi actually felt exhausted, and his ankle was pulsing hotly. He addressed the aunt that spoke German. "If it's not too much trouble, perhaps we can just sleep?" he asked, swaying slightly as he attempted to keep the weight off his injured limb.

The twins' Aunt Sophie nodded. _"Oui_, but aren't you hungry?"

Riku nodded, and the three ended up being led to an enormous kitchen, where a chef was preparing dinner for the reunion. Silver pots and cast-iron pans hung from the ceiling, and there appeared to be a large walk-in freezer in the corner of the room. The scents of roasting meat, mouth-watering gravy, and freshly baked bread hit Satoshi's nose and he felt his stomach grumble in anticipation.

They ate in silence while the rosy-cheeked chef spoke in rapid French to Aunt Sophie, gesturing occasionally with a soup spoon. The food was absolutely delicious, as to be expected of upper-class French cuisine, and Satoshi was sure to sop up the last of the red wine sauce with his bread before he let his eyes flutter shut in contentment.

Feeling the effects of a long day on poor sleep combined with a warm meal, Satoshi was happy to pull on a pair of Daisuke's pajamas and crawl into a bed. After a few minutes, the door creaked open, and the twins scurried into the bed on the other side of the room. Apparently, the Duponts were so convinced of their tiredness and trauma that they let the three of them sleep in the same room, forcing the smaller children to bunk in the same room for the night so they wouldn't disturb them.

"Hiwatari," Riku said, her voice sounding distant in the dark room. "What are we going to do about the paintings in the house?"

"We can seal them, or move them to a part of the house we won't go to," he reasoned. "But for the ones we have to seal… we should do that tonight." It wouldn't do for them to wait. The one the Duponts kept above their ornate fireplace was gorgeous, and the kind Krad loved. It didn't help that the frame was intricate and golden.

"I brought my phone… I can set an alarm for two in the morning so we can do it while everyone else is asleep," Risa suggested. The room lit up for a moment as she pulled out her cell phone and started setting the alarm.

"Just make sure it's not too loud," Riku said, rustling the covers on the twins' bed.

"Then let's get some sleep," Satoshi recommended. "It'll probably take several hours to go over the entire house."

Risa's cell phone light winked out, and after a short chorus of goodnights, Satoshi pulled his blankets up to his chin, and drifted off to sleep.

It felt like only moments later when an annoying jingle woke him. There was a muffled groan from one of the twins—probably Riku—and then the noise thankfully subsided.

"Hiwatari?" came Risa's querulous voice.

"I'm awake," he replied, reaching over to the bedside table for his glasses as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Let me find my backpack…."

He heard the pitter-patter of one of the girls' footsteps and suddenly felt blinded as Riku turned on a lamp. She was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, unlike her sister, who wore a classic nightgown, complete with ruffles and pink ribbons. He rubbed the bridge of his nose before putting his glasses on.

Without much further ado, Satoshi pulled out his set of paintbrushes, unrolling the thick cloth he kept them in. Selecting a golden-hilted brush with a round tip of soft, white bristles, he rolled the rest back up and tucked them away in his pack.

"Ready," he informed the twins, who stepped back suddenly, as if they were pretending they hadn't been ogling his brushes. He sighed and gingerly stepped to his feet, managing to take only one step before Risa rushed under his arm. He didn't necessarily want the aid, but knew that they would finish quicker if he allowed it.

Moments later, they were wandering into the living room. They stared up at the large painting above the fireplace as Risa raised her cell phone to shed more light.

Held within a brilliantly crafted golden frame, the wet streets of Paris glimmered underneath an afternoon sun that peaked out from behind the Eiffel Tower. Raincoated Parisans scurried across the sidewalks, past puddles that reflected the many shop fronts and apartment awnings. There were few cars, and one pedestrian was staring up at the sky, folding his umbrella. It was a beautiful scene, and Satoshi could feel the faint pulse of life from it. He knew that if he looked closer, he would be able to see beyond the painting's framed edges.

In short, the painting was as dangerous as he had thought.

"I need to get closer to it," he told the girls, looking around for a chair he could climb on top of to reach the painting. Riku obliged him by picking up a stool and setting it on the edge of the stone hearth.

"Just be careful standing on it," she whispered, and then knelt by the base to hold it steady.

He climbed onto the stool and held his paintbrush out. It didn't matter that he didn't have any paint. Satoshi wasn't trying to paint over the artwork, anyway. All he needed to do was keep Krad from using the painted world the French artist had created.

He flexed his fingers gently over the white-bristled paintbrush, feeling the familiar carvings in the wooden handle, and pressed the bristles over the artist's signature in the corner. If he could weaken or break the link between the painting and the real world, then Krad would be unable to look outside the painting.

He heard Risa stifle a tiny gasp as he pulled the paintbrush away, having pulled the artist's signature from the painting. The soft hair at the end of his brush was dotted with the black paint the artist had used to sign his name.

"That should be enough," he said quietly, stepping down from the stool carefully. To a painting, the artist's signature was its primary link to the real world. The artist had actually lived and breathed (and in some cases died) in the human world, and the signature was artistic representation of the link between artist and art. Without that link, most weaker paintings like the ones in the Dupont household, were completely harmless. "And I can probably use this signature to weaken another painting," he said as he leaned onto Risa, holding the brush out. Weak art was usually confused, and swapping signatures was akin to creating a maze for anything navigating through artwork. If done properly, there would be no way out of the maze, and thus, no way in.

"I still don't know how you manage things like that," Riku whispered, shaking her head. She picked up the stool and followed Risa and Satoshi into the dining room and the rolling French countryside that hung behind the table.

* * *

It was enough to make any fourteen-year-old go crazy, and worse for a precocious one who had received his Bachelor's degree at the age of twelve. In short, Satoshi disliked small children.

The four that belonged to the Dupont families were no exception. Sebastien and Paul, both age six, were constantly underfoot, pestering Satoshi with absurd questions even after bedtime. The eight-year-old Vincent was a complete handful, who never listened and was constantly convincing the younger boys to trample around the house like a herd of wildebeest. Juliette, who was three, was either the worst or the best to deal with, depending on whether or not she was hungry, bored, or sleepy. He preferred her when she was asleep. To make matters worse, the children _only_ spoke French, and Satoshi's command of the language was less than stellar.

The first week at the Harada-Dupont reunion had gone relatively well. The parents had attempted to keep the small children in hand while Satoshi's ankle and the twins' delicate senses had recovered. Satoshi doubted that either twin had delicate senses, but was satisfied by the way they milked it for all it was worth. One of the Duponts was in fact a doctor, and had checked and wrapped Satoshi's sprained ankle every morning and every evening, which had improved his condition significantly by the end of the first week. However, there was one problem with the constant attention.

Although they had managed to seal or move all of the paintings in the rooms they would frequent during the first three nights they had been unable to talk in private since then. The two available rooms for those under age 30 had been divided into a girls' room and a boys' room, rather than a teens's room and a small children's room. Satoshi roomed with the terrible twins Sebastien and Paul, as well as Vincent who seemed unable to sleep without talking incessantly for an hour. But the teens also somehow managed to be the constant center of attention for both children and adults, and could not walk into a separate room without the careful eyes of at least two adults or the fateful footfalls of running children.

Furthermore, Satoshi was masquerading as Risa's boyfriend, which prompted even more attention because no adult wanted to leave them alone. Satoshi could have kicked himself for how stupid the idea was in practice, although he did have to admit (but not aloud) that teasing Risa was more satisfying than he had thought it would be. Even Riku seemed to enjoy the way his long stares at the younger twin from across the dinner table caused a profuse blush, and in one instance, the need to disappear to the bathroom for a few minutes.

But once Riku became fed up with the pampering and answered the usual question of "How are you feeling today, _mon petit chou_?" with a "Pretty good," things changed. Instead of getting better, however, things became worse. The adults had decided to give them the responsibility of babysitting Sebastien, Paul, Vincent, and Juliette in the evenings while they went out for drinks or plays or concerts. It left Satoshi and the twins trying to contain the chaos that were the four small children, knowing that their aunts and uncles were off playing. It certainly grated on Satoshi's nerves that he was supposed to mind children while their parents were enjoying the fine arts of Paris.

One such evening, Satoshi was quietly informing Sebastien and Paul in broken French that throwing crayons at Juliette was not acceptable when he heard a soft noise at the window. Before he could turn to look, Riku jumped up from helping Vincent read a book and raced over.

"Wiz!" she chimed, pulling open the window and letting in a draft along with the white rabbit.

"Kyuu!" Wiz replied happily, dropping a letter at her feet before jumping into her arms.

Fortunately, Wiz was comfortable playing with the children while Riku read the letter and informed Satoshi and Risa, with only a slight amount of blushing, that Daisuke was doing well, and seemed to be working on his defenses. She kept her information vague enough so that the children, even if they were paying attention, didn't know what they were talking about.

There were no letters for Risa or Satoshi, but neither minded that much. Satoshi simply hoped that Daisuke had taken his warning to heart and wasn't blabbing about his history with Dark to whatever wizards he came across. Daisuke was so trusting sometimes….

He shook his head, and then jumped up at a startled cry from Wiz, rescuing the rabbit from Paul, who was pulling his ears. Fortunately, Risa admonished them sharply, rescuing Satoshi from having to remember French for "Don't pull on a rabbit's ears."

He slumped back into a chair, signaling to Sebastien and Paul that he was watching them with a few, unmistakable hand gestures. They stuck their tongues out and went back to plotting something, heads bent over a coloring book. He stroked Wiz's white fur aimlessly, and then looked over at Riku.

"I guess we'll have to hide him until your letter is ready?"

"That's going to be difficult with you-know-who around," she said, tilting her head to indicate the children. They were probably the most difficult crowd to keep a flying pet rabbit a secret from. He sighed, and then motioned for Riku to come closer so he could whisper to her without the children hearing.

"We can send Wiz outside during the day, and maybe you could let him into your room at night. As long as he's quiet, I don't think Juliette will know. She sleeps pretty well at night, right?" He glanced down to make sure the white rabbit was paying attention, too.

Riku nodded slowly, leaning back. "That should work." She plucked Wiz up and then shook her head, raising her voice to get the attention of the children. _"Ce lapin a la plague! Vas-t'en, lapin!"_ Without another word, she threw Wiz out the window, to the surprise and horror of the children.

For the rest of the evening, the children were awful, despite Riku insisting that Wiz had really had the plague and that they had all better wash very carefully and take very good baths that night if they didn't want to die by morning.

* * *

Satoshi stepped off the train, senses alert. The posters on the walls of the _métro_ tunnel were stained and torn on the edges, which allowed him to relax a little. Between the posters, the bricks were painted with the letters ST-MICHEL. As the twins maneuvered onto the platform beside him, he glanced around. Snippets of French echoed around him as other passengers swept around him and climbed the steps to the sidewalk.

"I still can't believe how suffocating it is to be at that house," Riku complained as they hiked up the stairs. "I thought we'd have more fun exploring _le Bois de Boulogne_, but we had to drag along the twins," she continued, speaking of Sebastien and Paul. She made a gagging noise as she reached for the railing.

"It's not that bad, Riku," her sister admonished lightly. "Isn't Juliette the cutest thing you've ever seen?" The younger twin closed her eyes in appreciation for a moment, even as Riku met Satoshi's eyes and shook her head. Satoshi agreed with the older twin. The forested park had seemed like a good idea until the adults had decided to bring themselves and the younger children. The end result had been awful for everyone except Risa, who had opted to push Juliette's stroller.

But today they had finally managed to get away.

Satoshi blinked as they stepped into the sunlight at St. Michael's Fountain. Small groups of tourists were snapping photos of their family and friends in front of the twin dragons that blew water, rather than fire, into the pool at the base of the fountain. Behind them, the winged St. Michael brandished a sword above a fallen demon.

Satoshi smiled to himself, and walked up towards the fountain, followed by the twins.

"Here, let me get a picture of you two!" Risa cried, pulling out her digital camera. "We might as well pretend like we're actually having a vacation, you know."

"Wait, I'll take a picture of you with your _boyfriend_," Riku retorted, smirking at her sister as she reached for the camera. "That's a much better photo, anyway."

Risa turned a bright red as Satoshi sat down on the edge of the fountain, watching their antics. The younger twin tried to keep her camera away from her laughing older sister, but in the end handed the camera over after extracting a promise that they would trade places in a moment. Risa plopped down next to Satoshi, and with a slight smirk towards Riku**, **put his arm around Risa's shoulder. He pretended to look thoroughly and genuinely happy, instead of scheming.

Riku hurriedly snapped the photo and then passed the camera to her sister, who couldn't leave the spot next to Satoshi fast enough, probably hoping that he wouldn't catch the way her blush had gone all the way to her ears.

He shook his head slightly and rolled his eyes away as Riku tried to offer him a sneaky high-five, and instead the two sat in silence as Risa took their picture. Once Satoshi offered to take one of the twins, Risa decided to model with her sister in several different positions. Nearly ten minutes and one extremely monotonous photoshoot later, the three were headed along _Quai Saint-Michel_ towards the twin towers of Notre Dame.

They crossed the street to watch the Seine and small boats float by below them, as they meandered down the wide sidewalk. Riku tried to convince Risa that she could see fish in the river, but Risa wasn't gullible enough to even look at her sister's pointing. She harrumphed, and then stopped suddenly.

"Paintings," she whispered, and sure enough, artists were lined up in front of them, their wares on display for the tourists passing by.

Riku cast a fearful glance to Satoshi. "We can go around, probably… as long as we avoid tourist spots, we can—"

Satoshi cut her off with a shake of his head. "I'm not sensing anything dangerous from the art here. Most of them are probably just reprints, anyway, which don't have any powers whatsoever."

Risa nodded slowly, but Riku just leaned closer. "Are you _sure?"_

Satoshi walked forward in answer. It was true that he didn't feel any pulse of life or any faint wisp of magic from the art around here. This late in the season, all the truly spectacular art had been bought by tourists and anything good left over was a recent work. The more recent artworks usually had less power simply because they hadn't had much time to build it up. Lastly, they were the kind of art that didn't catch a Hikari eye. Thus Krad was not naturally drawn to them.

The first stall held posters, anyway, and the three had nothing to fear from a reprint of the famous _Tournée du Chat Noir_. But even so… they hurried along the street until Risa complained of hunger and they snuck into a small café called _Le Notre Dame_.

Satoshi slid into a seat underneath the green awning, and in a moment, they were greeted by a waiter, who handed them each a menu and asked them if they wanted coffee. Knowing they were due to take care of the small children later that evening, they agreed to have a cup each, and then helped Satoshi translate his menu.

"Well, I think things seem to be going rather well, despite how it may seem," Riku commented seriously after they had ordered, and they all knew what she was talking about. They were still alive and Krad hadn't found them, which meant they were doing rather well indeed.

"But what do we do when the reunion is over?" Risa asked, setting down her cup.

They were all silent for a moment. "Do you think there'll be some kind of trap waiting for us at home?" Riku asked, looking around the tiny round table.

Satoshi let out a sigh. "It's likely. I don't know if we'll be able to return to Germany before we figure out what Krad is up to." He looked at Riku. "Have you sent out Wiz yet?" She shook her head, looking puzzled. "Maybe you should send him to Daisuke's house, asking for news. Perhaps Daisuke's family has been able to figure something out."

Riku nodded, but Risa objected. "Wouldn't that be dangerous for Wiz? I mean, if there's a trap at our house, wouldn't there be one at Daisuke's? Krad probably _expects_ us to send Wiz there, and if we do, then there's no way we can contact Daisuke!"

She was right, of course, and Satoshi closed his eyes for a moment. If he tried contacting them through the police, he'd have to go through all kinds of hoops now that he was here in France, and Krad or his lackeys would be able to trace him. A simple letter wouldn't make it, and again, the return address would give their hiding spot away. Could he perhaps send them an email? No, that was easily traced as well, especially if Krad were looking for something like that. The demonic angel actually knew Satoshi's email address and password already, having lived within him for so long.

"So, if we're on our own," Satoshi began slowly, "then we need to do some digging ourselves. Daisuke's at school right now. We have to assume he's busy setting up his own defenses and staying alert, as well as doing his homework." He paused, letting Riku and Risa nod along to his words. "We have to figure out a way to get rid of Krad, because we can't keep hiding forever."

"Risa and I will have to go back to school when the reunion is over," the elder Harada said solemnly. "I guess this means we've got a deadline."

Their sandwiches arrived at that moment, giving them a reprieve from their conversation. But how were they going to get rid of Krad? Satoshi's mind continued whirring as he took a bite of his _jambon-buerre_. Last time, Dark had helped by pulling Krad into the Black Wings and allowing the artwork to reseal. But where was Dark? What exactly was he doing to help them fight Krad this time, and was there any way for them to get in touch with him?

Probably not, considering that they were secluding themselves from artwork, which would be their means of communication with the phantom thief.

"I think we should all think about what we can do to stop Krad, and reconvene on the topic tomorrow," Riku stated, swallowing a bit of her own sandwich. "I'm all out of ideas right now, but maybe we can each be thinking about it and come up with something good by tomorrow?"

Risa nodded. "And we know we'll have some free time tomorrow because Aunt Sophie promised us we could go out again for lunch as long as we were back by five today."

"So we'll just make sure to be back by five," Riku replied with a smile. She waved the waiter over so she could order a scoop of ice cream for dessert.

* * *

Notre Dame was breathtaking, even though it wasn't the first time any of them had seen it. The intricate, gothic arches and towering spires were intimidating and beautiful at the same time. The sunlight sparkled off the circular stained-glass windows in the front, and bathed the stone in a warm, golden light. Even the nearby trees seemed beautiful, lending a soft blanket of white noise to the area and separating it from the bustle of traffic and other harsh sounds. And even though the building didn't qualify as a direct piece of art (that Krad could use against them), it still caught their artistic sensibilities and held them for a moment in awe.

Until Risa decided it was a perfect photo opportunity, of course. She convinced her sister to pose with her for the next ten minutes while Satoshi attempted to fit both them and the tall spires of Notre Dame into the frame. They sat for a while on the edge of a raised square of hedges for a while in relative silence, Riku and Risa debating the nationalities of the other tourists. The Japanese were easy to spot, moving in enormous groups and taking dozens of photos with their fingers forming peace signs. The Americans traveled in families with matching khaki shorts, while a father tried to take a video recording and the children only wanted to chase the pigeons. Risa pegged an elderly couple as British, and then Riku pointed out that the woman had a Canadian flag on her hip pack.

Realizing they were running out of time to explore the area before having to get back on the _métro_ and be home by five, they decided to wander around the nearby blocks. Little souvenir shops flanked the roadways, hoping to lure in passing tourists. As it was, Satoshi ended up following Risa as she darted in and out of the stores and booths, hoping to find adequate gifts for her friends back at Azumano. Satoshi noticed Riku doing the same motions but a little more surreptitiously, and could almost see her thoughts: _Would Daisuke like something like this?_ He was surprised he managed to stay with them for so long without needing some fresh air.

He hoped Daisuke would like the gloves that had spelled PARIS across the fingers, and then realized that the present was from Riku. Of course Daisuke would like it.

"Oh, Juliette _loves_ the Little Prince!" Risa cried just as he thought they were leaving the street. He turned back as both twins disappeared inside a tiny store with Antoine de Saint Exupéry's tiny protagonist's face above the door.

He pushed open the door to follow, and found himself inside a room that housed dolls, books, CDs, tapes, and old VHS cassettes of Le Petit Prince. The walls were hung with posters of the blond prince holding a sword and dressed in a long blue coat. Although Satoshi had never read the children's story, he was familiar enough with it.

He wandered to the back of the room, where different versions of the novella filled an entire bookcase. Noticing that one copy said "The Little Prince" along the spine rather than _"Le Petit Prince"_, he pulled it out, glancing back towards Risa where she stood turning a plastic-wrapped CD case over in her hand.

He opened the book to page at random, and beheld a picture of a small creature that could have been a rabbit, a raccoon, or a fox in a small hole in the ground, beside a field of flowers and underneath a young tree. Even through the reprinted pages of the book, Satoshi could feel the echoes of something powerful in the simple artwork. Although it was true that many children's books were like that, drawing strength from their utter simplicity and truth, he felt the urge to look a little further.

He turned the page, finding nothing but writing.

"_No," said the Little Prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that mean—'tame'?"_

"_It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish ties."_

"_To establish ties?"_

"_Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox just like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I will be unique in all the world…."_

He closed the book, deciding that he would undoubtedly be hearing about it from little Juliette and didn't want to waste his time with a children's book at any rate. He was certain that such simple truths as were in the book he had already learned the hard way. Either that or he had already moved on to the adult versions, leaving his childhood far behind with his faded, dusty memories of his mother. He returned the book to the shelf, and turned towards the twins.

In the end, Risa bought the CD for Juliette, and continued to debate with Riku about the best character, other than the Little Prince himself, of course, as they walked towards the _métro _station and boarded, heading back towards the Dupont house.

* * *

The following lunchtime found Satoshi, Riku, and Risa sitting around a small table at a small restaurant in the 1st _arrondissement_. They were dining at _Le Petit Machon,_ and frustrated at their lack of ideas for defeating Krad.

"We know he wants to attack you and take over your body, Hiwatari, but is there any way we can really stop him from doing that?" Risa asked nervously, closing her hands around her coffee cup.

Satoshi shook his head. "I don't think we know enough about the people he's working with," he confessed. "I'm wondering if we can find a way to get in touch with Dark without Krad knowing."

"But any way we use to get in touch with Dark can be used by Krad," Riku summarized glumly.

"Also…" Satoshi began, looking out the window. "I've been thinking about Wiz. If we're going to assume that Krad has some kind of net waiting for him in Germany, it's likely that he's looking for a white rabbit in Paris." Risa made a noise that sounded somewhere between a hiccup and a gasp, and Riku blinked quickly.

"But Wiz has already made it out of France and back," she said, straightening up and looming over the table. Her expression was settling into confident determination. Obviously she didn't want to give up her link to Daisuke, but….

"Riku, we all want to stay in touch with Daisuke, but Krad knows we got onto a train heading for this city." He pushed his glasses up and gave her a cool look. "It could be that Krad gets one step closer to finding us every time Wiz returns. Or perhaps… he gets closer to finding Daisuke every time Wiz leaves." He sighed, looking down at his half-eaten _croque-monsieur_ as his stomach became heavy. "It's too dangerous to use him anymore."

Riku nodded slowly, slumping back into her seat. Risa placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort, and the girls shared one of their long, twinnish stares, seeming to speak without words. After a moment, they went back to their meals in silence.

The cheered up only slightly by the end of the meal, prolonging it as much as possible so that maybe they would have some kind of inspiration before they left the restaurant, and then could have felt productive. Instead, the atmosphere was heavy and slightly tense as they paid for their meal and exited onto the street.

Riku yawned and stretched as Satoshi removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. A sudden yelp alerted him and he hastily flung the lenses in front of his eyes, seeing that something had grabbed the girl's legs and clung tightly.

"Ah, _c'est les jumelles!"_ a familiar voice called, as Satoshi realized that what had wrapped around Riku was in fact a small boy, either Sebastien or Paul. The voice belonged to Dr. Dupont, who had wrapped Satoshi's ankle twice a day for two weeks.

"_C'est parfait!"_ the twins' Aunt Cécile exclaimed, clapping her hands together in excitement as she took in the three teens. Risa was immediately tackled by the another small boy, who was either Sebastien or Paul.

In a matter of moments, the rest of Harada-Dupont family had clustered around them, surprised to run into each other in a city as large as the city of lights. French chatter surrounded him, and it was very easy for Satoshi to have no idea what anyone was talking about, until Riku suddenly gave a very defiant, "No!"

Risa appeared to cover for her, speaking in very fluent (and therefore indecipherable) French, and suddenly looked quite tired. She yawned, and then continued, patting Riku on the arm.

Satoshi caught Riku's next words well enough, and realized the twins were trying to convince the rest of the family that they wanted to go home. He wondered why the twins wanted a sudden change of plans, until Aunt Cécile turned to him, and spoke very carefully. He missed most of her words because one caught his attention abruptly.

"… _le Louvre?"_

Satoshi tried not to cough as he finally drew a breath, and Aunt Cécile turned towards her husband, the good doctor and ankle-wrapper. She clapped her hands together again as she spoke, and Risa suddenly appeared at Satoshi's side.

"She thinks you're excited to go to the Louvre!" Risa hissed, and Satoshi noticed a dark glower coming from Riku over the top of Vincent's head. He swallowed.

They had mistaken his shock and horror for excitement?

Satoshi shook his head. There was no way the three of them were going to the _Musée du Louvre._ It was the most visited museum in the entire world, and housed such famous and powerful artwork as the Mona Lisa, Nike, several portraits of Mars, Cupid and Psyche, statues of Egyptian gods Isis and Osiris, King Childebert, the Astronomer, the Coronation of Napoleon, and countless Greek virgins, sword-bearing armies, and foppish nobility. The art had been powerful enough to begin with, simply through the skill of the various artists, known and unknown. To make matters worse, most of the 35,000 artwork contained in the 60,000 square meters of the museum had been there for quite some time, gaining more strength with each viewing. The curators of the museum took exquisite care of each piece, and researchers traveled from around the world to study them. In other words, the place was a death trap.

As he stood in absolute shock, the adults began shooing everyone along, to the museum only a block or two away. Satoshi had thought that hiding in the museum's shadow was clever enough, but hiding inside the building was absolutely absurd. It wasn't hiding at all if one was in plain sight.

He blinked, reeling as events seemed to be swirling outside of his control. Ahead, Aunt Cécile was berating Riku and Risa in a harsh whisper, leaning over them like a wrathful dragon and quite unlike the cheery persona she had thus far exuded. The twins were shaking their heads, eyes wide, but every time they opened their mouths, their Aunt cut them off. Dr. Dupont leaned over his wife's shoulder and seemed to be cajoling them.

What was this, some kind of good cop bad cop routine?

Satoshi turned to appeal to Aunt Sophie, the German-speaking one. She looked up as he approached, smiling. "I'm glad we ran into you," she said before he had a chance to speak. "As a budding young artist, I'm surprised you haven't visited the Louvre already, what with you staying in Paris." She nodded, even as he shook his head, and turned to tuck Juliette into her stroller as the group started walking. As he looked for Riku and Risa in the crowd, he saw that to his horror, Dr. Dupont was holding a slender wrist in each hand.

They were being dragged to the Louvre _by force?!_

"Oh!" Satoshi cried suddenly. _"Ma cheville!"_ Heads swiveled back to look at him as he suddenly pretended to limp, as if his ankle had suddenly popped out of place. As Dr. Dupont let go of the twins to examine him, Satoshi looked at the Harada twins. "Run!" he yelled suddenly, and bolted from the crowd.

The rest of the family was entirely bewildered, and stood in shock for a moment. All except for Vincent, Sebastien, and Paul, who scurried after the three teens like dogs let loose from their leashes.

Within eight seconds of their would-be escape, Satoshi was tackled by Vincent, who giggled insanely as Satoshi's glasses scattered across the ground. A second later, Sebastien and Paul piled on top, each deciding to sit on one of Satoshi's legs. Risa turned back to see the pitiful scene, and called to her sister.

They managed to pull one of the twin boys from Satoshi's leg just as every adult in the Harada-Dupont family arrived. Satoshi rolled over, spilling Vincent from his back, and could only blink at the looming, blurry forms.

Risa knelt next to him and gently handed him his glasses. He put them on just in time to see a livid Aunt Cécile maneuver her way to the front of the crowd to deliver their punishment.

* * *

Satoshi held his breath as he stepped inside the room, trying to keep his presence as unnoticeable as possible. Perhaps if he stuck in the center of their group, the watchful eyes of the paintings and the listening ears of the statues wouldn't notice him. Perhaps they would make it out of this. He felt a tap on his shoulder from behind and jumped, looking back.

Aunt Cécile narrowed her eyes as she nearly pushed him inside. He swallowed, and wedged himself between Aunt Sophie and a relative whose name he didn't remember. They looked down at him in confusion, but didn't seem to mind too much.

"You'll thank us for this later," Aunt Cécile had said in a thick French accent while Dr. Dupont had dragged him towards the entrance of the museum. If Satoshi had known how to adequately explain that entering the Louvre would put his life in peril, he would have. But as it was, the twins were too terrified of their Aunt to put up further resistance, and Satoshi was severely frustrated by the language barrier. In the end, the twins could only try to help block Satoshi's presence from the artwork.

Satoshi had the sinking feeling that it was only a matter of time before something knew he was there. Most artwork didn't need eyes or ears to know when a Hikari was around. Just as he could sense the powerful undercurrents of magic rippling between the art and into the surrounding air, the art could sense the presence of a talented artist walking into their midst.

Furthermore, with Krad on the loose, Satoshi refused to leave the house without his paintbrushes safely concealed on his person. He had unrolled their canvas case and tied it around his waist so that the paintbrushes were within easy reach on his back, underneath his jacket. Undoubtedly, the artwork of the Lourve could sense the presence of his paintbrushes, the secondary creators of magical art. Some of the art in the museum had in fact been painted by the very paintbrushes Satoshi carried.

No matter how he looked at it, he was in very serious danger.

His heart pounded as the group moved deeper into the room housing ancient artifacts from Egypt. His stomach turned when he caught side of several sarcophagi on the far wall behind an alarmingly thin layer of glass. Their painted eyes stared out blankly, but for a moment he thought he felt the low pulse of magic skip a beat.

He held his breath again, but nothing in the room changed. He exhaled slowly, taking another anxious step as he broke out into a chill sweat. Half a minute in the room and he was already beginning to panic.

No, he had to try to keep calm. Keep his mind, his presence, on par with the rest of the mundane, simple-minded tourists. He had to pretend he was here for a show, feign ignorance of his impending doom, and follow the Harada-Duponts empty-headedly.

What was he even doing in the museum at all? Why hadn't he simply continued running, Harada-Dupont reunion be damned? Did he really think there was a chance that this would go unnoticed by his white-winged enemy?

He took a few careful steps to stay with the group, shaking his head as Aunt Sophie tried to prod him closer to an ancient writing tablet. The further he stayed from the displays, the better.

Risa shivered as they passed the sarcophagi, and tried to lead the group back towards the flight of stairs they had descended not too long ago. Maybe she was thinking of escaping through the lobby? Just past those stairs was another flight of stairs that lead onto the next floor. Perhaps they could claim that the Egyptian works were scaring the smaller children and, as they made their way to another wing, sneak out an exit.

The adults followed Risa's lead without thinking as they doubled back around several display cases. Satoshi wanted to curse. The group was dispersing, flowing outwards like sand spilling from torn bag. Riku filled a gap, giving him a worried look, and he swallowed uncomfortably, his throat dry. He kept Aunt Sophie and Juliette's stroller on his other side, and then nearly tripped as the stroller turned and halted in front of him.

Riku caught his shoulder so he didn't crash to the floor, and Juliette made a startled noise as she woke up. Aunt Sophie gave Satoshi a serious look that meant "be careful" and pushed Juliette forward, giving Satoshi no time to respond as he hurried after them, keeping them between him and the tiny, hand-crafted Nile boatmen in the nearby display case.

The thrum of magic in the room pulsed electrically and then subsided. He glanced back behind him, hoping the sarcophagi were still in behind their glass panes, and caught a glimpse of their staring eyes from over a Harada's head. He turned back around as the group funneled through the doorway and the hairs on the back of his neck began to stand on end.

The stairs that lead to the lobby were on their right. If only Risa were paying attention, perhaps they could make a break for it. Riku was still on his left. He didn't want to leave the younger twin behind, knowing that left to her own devices, she'd be a defenseless target for Krad.

He nudged Riku and sent a longing glance towards the stairs. She nodded, and tried to catch her sister's eye as the group continued past the stairs. Satoshi watched his feet as he followed slowly, trying to stay hidden but also ready to run through the gaps. Perhaps he could stop and pretend to retie a shoelace, or maybe he could just yell and Risa would be able to meet up with them later….

Satoshi froze as a sudden chill ran up his spine. Without any other warning, the low and distant rumble of magic grew to a deafening roar. He looked up and to his right, his heart pounding and instincts urging him to run despite the way his feet seemed to be glued to the floor.

How could he have been so inattentive!

Between the staircases lay a brightly lit alcove, and at the very center, the broad figure of the Tanis Sphinx. Its piercing granite eyes bore into Satoshi, immobilizing him as the rest of the group nodded, smiled, and continued walking. The roar of magic was from this Egyptian beast. The guardian _seshep-ankh_—the living image—had seen him. It had recognized him for what he was.

The ground seemed to tremble, and although he knew the Sphinx was literally holding still, Satoshi couldn't shake the feeling that it was coming closer to him, the roar subsiding to a lazy purr, as it emanated the confidence of a cat who has caught his mouse.

"Hiwa… tari?"

Riku's voice had never seemed so much out of place and so welcome. His mind grasped onto the sound like it was a life-saving device, and he stared at her until her features came into focus. Her face was twisted in terror.

Satoshi breathed shallowly and listening to his heartbeat pounding frantically in his ears. But he wasn't terrified until he noticed that Riku's gaze was actually focused on something directly behind him.

He didn't panic until he saw that every member of her family was looking at the same thing.

"_Found you,"_ someone breathed beside his ear. There was no way Satoshi could mistake the poison-laced honey beneath the dusty, dry rasp of a voice. A chill settled into the pit of his stomach as two arms reached around him, settling their bony, blackened fingertips onto his sides. His throat closed as gauzy strips of material brushed against his arms when they caught the artificial breeze in the air-conditioned room. "And now…" the voice continued in a low hiss, "you are _mine_."

Before his mind could process his actions, Satoshi was running forward, the brittle bones of the arms around him snapping away and skidding across the polished floor. He was grabbing Riku's hand as they bolted through her scattering, screaming family, and following Risa's high-pitched call towards the room's only unblocked exit.

The Tanis Sphinx roared, showering them with bits of dusty granite as they passed, and waking every other work of art in the _Musée du Louvre_, alerting them to two very important facts.

Satoshi Hiwatari—the Hikari heir—was among them.

Krad, however, was _inside_ them.

Satoshi and the twins ran up the stairs, breathless with fear, and didn't stop as they flung themselves out of the stairwell and into a large room filled with a maze of display cases and bewildered tourists.

A sudden howl echoed from another wing, and the clattering of breaking glass ricocheted through every room. Screams resounded from the museum's gentle visitors as statues climbed from their cases, portraits fled from their frames, and jewel-encrusted weapons rattled. Saltwater gushed from the frames of windy oceanscapes, and warm, fragrant air wafted from tiny, acrylic cottages. What had been an abnormally quiet space of whispers and silent ponderings was now a circus of running and shouting tourists, frightened security guards, and dangerous artwork. It was clear the normal laws of nature had been discarded. Chaos reigned.

Amid the pounding of running feet and gasps of astonished visitors, Satoshi and the twins searched frantically for the nearest exit.

"There!" cried Riku, pointing to a sign marked _"sortie."_ She veered to the left, and then suddenly faltered, crying out as she swung awkwardly to the glass-covered floor.

A granite statue of a nearly naked woman with an Egyptian headdress held Riku by the wrist, grinning wickedly. Isis cackled as she lifted Riku up off the floor and held her in a rocky grip, although most of her left arm had broken long ago and her right was completely missing. She flashed a pair of gleaming golden eyes to Satoshi. "Shall we trade?" she asked, Krad's mocking velvet tones sliding just beneath the surface of her throaty timbre.

Satoshi felt his stomach churn, but before he had time to respond, Risa launched onto the statue, clinging to Isis's back and pulling her hair. The Egyptian goddess shrieked as she tried to remove the girl from her back, and released Riku for a moment.

Riku didn't miss a beat. She dove to the side and picked up a fallen spear, swinging it around and shattering it across the craggy rock at Isis's shins. The golden light left the goddess's eyes, and Risa jumped away as the statue faltered. Satoshi lunged forward to grab her hand and continue running when Riku tossed the broken spear aside.

A trumpet sounded as they raced past a doorway to another room, heralding some cavalry charge in a group of American paintings. They fled down a long hallway, catching flashes of white feathers and long, golden hair behind the hemlocks and teepees of the paintings on the walls.

"This way!" Risa yelled, skidding around a corner towards an empty-looking stairwell. The elder Harada flung the door open and ushered Satoshi and Risa inside. Satoshi nearly tripped in his hurry to get down the stairs, grabbing onto the railing for support as he hurtled down, hoping that the stairs would lead him to an exit.

The three tumbled out of the stairwell at the ground floor, into a group of laughing Japanese tourists. They blundered their way through the crowd, who were all blocking the way and pointing at the mysterious, moving paintings on the walls, particularly the amused portrait of Johannes Vermeer's Astronomer.

Without warning, Krad burst into the Astronomer's window, golden eyes narrowing towards Satoshi as the Astronomer tumbled back, his globe falling to the floor and papers scattering about in the wind of Krad's furiously beating wings. The Japanese tourists jumped back in surprise, knocking Risa to the ground, and Krad slipped out the window again, white feathers drifting to the floor of the Astronomer's study and flashing behind the portraits on the walls closest to Satoshi.

He helped Risa to her feet as a rumble from one of the basement levels thundered through the floor.

"Come on!" Riku yelled, her voice rising in a panic. Satoshi and Risa followed her lead, racing across the room and dodging the tourists that hadn't comprehended the magnitude of the situation, or took it all for some kind of prank played by the museum staff.

Satoshi jumped back as Krad leered from behind Caravaggio's Fortune Teller, causing her to shriek and the young noble beside her to pull at his sword uselessly as he attempted to draw it. The noble fell below the frame as Krad leaned forward, calling Satoshi's name in a velvet hiss.

"You belong to me, Satoshi," he said, reaching towards him and pushing against the inner edge of the painted surface. The oil swirled at his touch, blurring his hand and rippling across towards the frame as the surface bulged slightly outwards.

"Not now and never again!" Satoshi yelled back defiantly, following the twins and sprinting past empty, broken display cases. Satoshi knew painfully well that he preferred death over the hell that was sharing a body with Krad, and he didn't intend to die any time soon.

The deadly false angel continued following along, flitting from painting to painting as the trio of teens sprinted through the hall of Renaissance works. They reached a wide staircase, where a pair of American parents were loudly attempting to keep their young children from running off. Riku nearly bowled right into the young girl, but athletically jumped to one side to avoid her and skidded to a standstill at the base of the steps, panting.

Krad's wild laughter echoed around the narrow hallway in front of them as Satoshi and Risa caught up and halted. Satoshi swallowed, his eyes darting around to find where Krad was currently hiding.

"You can't escape me in here," the dreadful voice called languidly. There was a horrible grating sound. "This is, after all, something like a playground for me." The harsh sound echoed around them again, the strange acoustics of the hallway making it impossible for them to tell whether it was coming from in front or behind. "I have everyth—no, wait, I have _almost_ everything I desire right now," Krad continued leisurely from some unseen vantage. Satoshi took a step backwards, and realized that he and the Harada twins had unconsciously put their backs together, each one of them alert and looking for the source of danger.

Satoshi felt his pulse beat in his ear. He swallowed, his throat dry from gasping for breath. The hallway was silent, and the Americans had left the staircase, so the only sounds were the echoes of the chaos among the Renaissance paintings from the other room.

Risa's scream alerted him, and he whirled around towards the hallway as the younger Harada's shoulder bumped into him and she grabbed his arm.

Eyes alight with savage cruelty, a bearded, limestone figure leapt towards them, swinging a very solid-looking scepter in his left hand. Riku flung her sister aside and then toppled into the wall as Childebert clubbed her with the scepter and loomed closer.

"You're the only thing left that I desire, Satoshi," the limestone statue murmured, golden eyes running over Satoshi's form covetously.

"Just run!" Riku yelled, cringing as she tried to stand.

"You bully!" Risa shouted suddenly, facing Krad defiantly. The statue raised one eyebrow, threw back his head, and laughed. Satoshi felt his lungs constrict. Was this what it was to come to? The twins sacrificing themselves to protect him? While he failed to fight back?

"Risa! You idiot!" Riku cried, leaning heavily against the wall for support. Her upper arm was already beginning to darken into a deep blue, and the rest of her was turning alarmingly pale.

Krad's wicked laughter continued. Satoshi's eyes narrowed. It wasn't the twins who should be protecting him. It was Satoshi who should be protecting _them_.

Determination coursing through him, Satoshi plucked a paintbrush from his back, choosing the one with a sharpened handle, and stepped in front of Risa, watching as the fires in Childebert—no, _Krad's_ eyes blazed.

"Giving yourself up is a very wise move, Satoshi," Krad purred, reaching a stone-wrought hand towards Satoshi's shoulder.

Moving suddenly, Satoshi sliced the inside of his left arm with the blade-like brush. The wound stung, but he clenched his teeth and ignored it. Spinning under Krad's outstretched clutches, he dabbed the brush into the thin trail of blood and swathed it across the limestone arm.

"I'm not giving myself up," he hissed, reaching for Riku's hand as Krad roared angrily, faltering a few steps backwards.

The statue of King Childebert was beginning to bleed profusely from the blood-smeared wound, and a moment later, the hand itself fell off, clattering to the floor as the golden spark in the statue's eyes faded and slowly coagulating blood oozed from the arm, cooling into limestone.

"We have to keep moving," Satoshi called to the shocked Risa as he tugged Riku along down the hallway. "That didn't stop him."

Riku was faltering as they hurried down the corridor, her steps slowly more and more unsteady. The injury Krad had inflicted was more serious than she was letting on, but there wasn't any time to stop and help her, either. They ground to a halt as the corridor ended in a T, with Napoleon Crossing the Alps leering down at them. As Bonaparte's horse finally touched the ground with all four hooves, the emperor wore a short smile and oddly curious eyes as he watched the three humans pant and try to determine which way to go.

Bonaparte suddenly laughed, and brought two fingers to his mouth, letting out a piercing whistle. Satoshi looked up in alarm, noting how the cavalry behind Bonaparte halted and then cheered gruesomely. _"Bonne chance!"_ Bonaparte yelled as a white shape suddenly crested the hill behind him and rocketed to the foreground. White feathers swirled as Krad narrowed his golden eyes and pushed towards the frame.

Risa ran to the left, and the other two followed, listening to the sounds of Krad attempting to punch his way out of the canvas of Bonaparte's portrait. The hallway opened up into a large, curving stairwell. At the base of the stairs, Psyche lay with Cupid's arms around her, as yet immobilized in white marble.

A few tourists were climbing the stairs, tilting their heads curiously as a smaller group ran down a hallway on the lower level. Risa continued down the stairs at full tilt, with Satoshi urging Riku along behind him.

Suddenly, a laugh echoed around the room, and Satoshi watched as Cupid dropped his lover, and stood, a triumphant smirk gracing his marble lips. His eyes flashed gold as he drew an arrow from his quiver and beat his wings once, slowly.

"RISA!" Satoshi yelled, reversing their path back up the stairs and away from the winged Greek god of love, now possessed by an irreverent and malicious monster. Risa grabbed onto the railing and used it to pull herself up the stairs as Psyche flung herself to the floor with a cry of betrayal and Krad-as-Cupid flexed his wings and leapt into the air, brandishing the arrow like a knife.

The other tourists screamed and ran, adding to the confusion and terror as Krad drew nearer, laughing at the spectacle.

"You can't outrun me, Satoshi!" he shouted gleefully. Satoshi risked a glance behind him to see that the pale marble skin was slowly darkening, tingeing pink. The toga was flowing like proper cloth as Krad flew to the top of the staircase and began chasing them down the hallway.

He was gaining on them, and growing ever stronger in his marble casing. Riku fumbled a step but Satoshi held her wrist firmly and kept their momentum. The hallway in front of them was clogged with people, and Risa was forced to slow first, trying to shout above the din of noise.

Krad dove at them from the ceiling, and Satoshi flattened himself to the floor, narrowly missing the extended arrow-tip. "If I only had a bow, Satoshi," the winged statue called. "Then I'd make sure you couldn't run away." Krad laughed, seeming to enjoy the attention the crowd was giving him as they cowered into the corners and stared in shock and horror. "As it is, I think I'm enjoying the thrill of the chase." A feather fluttered down as he beat his wings and dropped lower, hovering just above Satoshi. "Aren't you?" he whispered, landing gently on the floor.

Satoshi whipped out a brush. "Get away from me," he hissed through gritted teeth. Krad eyed the brush warily, and then curled his lips into a vicious smile.

"You think your games are going to stop me?" Krad asked. Cupid's hair was slowly turning blond, and his marble skin no longer had the appearance of marble. "For all its flaws, this body is much stronger than dear King Childebert, you know." Krad tossed his head and leaned towards Satoshi. "Don't you think it's—"

Satoshi didn't wait to let Krad finish his sentence. He spit into the end of the brush and then swiped it towards the statue in front of him. Krad narrowly dodged, and then lunged forward with the arrow tip aiming for Satoshi's thigh.

The hard point grazed across Satoshi's leg as he flung himself away. He tripped backwards and fell, brandishing the paintbrush in front of him as Krad turned towards him, pushing a lock of curly blond hair behind his ear.

Without warning, something rocketed into the statue, knocking him over and sliding along the hallway's smooth floors, gouging large tracks into it and spewing dusty marble into the air. A crash resounded as Krad hit the railing by the stairs, accompanied by a shower of stone.

Satoshi leapt to his feet and stared down the hallway with the twins. He took a step back as a winged figure rose from the cloud of debris. But the figure wasn't Cupid. It was taller, with flowing blond hair and a long, swirling, white toga. For a moment, he thought Krad had somehow materialized fully, that the broad white wings belonged to the fearsome angel's true form, and then… the figure turned.

Nike of Samothrace, Winged Victory. Somehow she had reclaimed her lost arms and her beautiful face. Pretty blue eyes landed on Satoshi as her delicate brow creased with worry. She held her arms out like a shepherd fearing a neighboring wolf, guarding Satoshi and the twins.

"Hikari," she said in a soft, cool voice, her wings beating slowly in the dusty air. "Two flights below me, there is a basement studio. Take your brushes and leave this place. Go as far as you can." She turned her head towards the cloud behind her as something heavy made a noise. "I shall try to hold off your half-souled creation while you escape." She turned and threw her shoulders back, lifting her chin as Krad-as-Cupid blew free from the wisps of dusty air, his marble face cracked on the left cheeks and angry eyes blazing. "Go now!" Nike called to the humans as she spread her arms and waited defiantly for Krad.

Satoshi didn't need to be told twice. They rushed down the hallway, pushing past fallen and gaping tourists. "Stairs!" Risa yelled as they entered a large, empty room. Broken glass crackled under their feet as an explosion sounded from the hallway they had just vacated. Satoshi glanced back to see dust roll out into the room, but saw no sign of Krad or Nike. He followed the twins down the stairs, two breathless flights, and then onto the basement floor.

"It should be around here somewhere, right?" Risa asked nervously, glancing around. They walked forward, finally catching their breath as they realized the walls were bare. Riku leaned her back against the wall, panting heavily. Sweat was pouring off her face, although she was undoubtedly the fittest of them all.

Satoshi tore his eyes from her and wandered further into the basement hallway. There were a few doors, and suddenly the hallway felt much more like one they would find in a school rather than a museum. "Risa," he called, keeping his voice fairly quiet. "What do these signs say?" he asked, gesturing towards the small French labels near each door. Risa hurried over, following by a hobbling and sick-looking Riku.

Risa inspected the signs briefly, and then pointed at one of the doors. "That one's the studio that statue was talking about!" she exclaimed.

A dangerous tremor rippled underneath their feet, followed immediately by the sound of something crashing down the stairs. Satoshi felt the adrenaline kick back into gear, and he pulled open the door, the twins tumbling in after him.

The room was occupied by half a dozen people, probably college students if he had to guess. Each was seated in front of an easel draped with canvas, and all were staring at him in shock and annoyance. Ignoring their looks, Satoshi saw what he was looking for.

One student was staring at the three of them in a daze, and behind him, his canvas was completely blank. Beside him lay a palate of paint, untouched.

Satoshi strode forward, paintbrush outstretched towards the paint as the room erupted into cries. Riku and Risa shrieked and huddled closer as Satoshi dipped his brush into the paint beside the entirely bewildered student, and began painting.

First, an escape. The color he had chosen was black, and he immediately drew the outline of a door, letting his imagination supply the details for now. It didn't exactly matter where the door led, only that it led to someplace far away.

He pulled another brush off his back, and swabbed it into a deep brown, painting the door a dark, wooden color. The art student finally made some noise and attempted to grab Satoshi's arm, but halted as the ground rumbled and something thudded against the wall from the hallway. Satoshi focused on the painting, willing himself to concentrate and ignore what was undoubtedly Krad and Nike fighting in the hallway.

The door was old. He painted in black hinges and the creases between each board with the brush covered in black paint. He gave it a large, iron-wrought handle. There was no knocker—it wasn't a front door, but it already existed inside some building. The light was dim on the door. He pulled out another brush, dipped it in a dark orange, and lightly brushed in something like torchlight, letting it gleam off the door's handle and hinges.

A crash resounded from behind him. Satoshi didn't wait for the paint to dry, and took a deep breath, reaching for the door's handle.

"Riku! Risa!" he shouted, throwing his other hand out to them as he felt the door in front of him grow and become more real, the area surrounding it almost taking the shape of stone. The twins latched onto his arm, and Satoshi winced as their fingers pressed down on his self-inflicted cut.

Behind them, Krad-as-Cupid's cherubic and feral face appeared in the doorway, with Nike's hand gripping his throat. His golden eyes found Satoshi exactly as Satoshi's hand found the cold metal of his door's handle. Krad beat his wings furiously, fighting rabidly against Nike as Satoshi pulled the door open. With a rush of painted wind, Satoshi felt the Louvre, the art students' cries of terror, Nike's victorious grin, and Krad's angry roars vanish behind him and the twins.

* * *

_Author's note: OH MY GOD, I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS CHAPTER FOR A LONG TIME. Longer than most of you, simply because I've known since Chapter 10 or so that it's been coming. I hope you've enjoyed it._

_In other news, the French used in this chapter is translated below. I tried to keep it pretty simple and if you know French, it adds to the story, and if you don't, well, it doesn't really detract, either. Since Satoshi's knowledge of French is limited, those of you that don't know French can feel like Satoshi. Though if you simply felt overwhelmed by the French, _please_ let me know. My goal is to tell a story, not to confuse._

_*"C'est un vrai coup de barre," can be translated as "We're seriously tired." A "coup de barre" is when you suddenly realize you're very, very tired._

_*"Mon petit chou" literally means "my little cabbage", and is a French term of endearment._

_*"Ce lapin a la plague! Vas-t'en, lapin!" means "This rabbit has the plague! Go away, rabbit!" _

_* "Jambon-buerre" is literally "ham-butter", but is used to describe a generous portion of ham in a buttered baguette. In other words, it's a delicious ham sandwich._

_*A "croque-monsieur" is a French grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Om nom._

_* "Ah, c'est les jumelles!" means "Oh, it's the twins!" though in particular, it means female twins, therefore Dr. Dupont is speaking of Riku and Risa, not Sebastien and Paul._

_* "C'est parfait!" is "It's perfect!"_

_* Napoleon's "bonne chance!" means "Good luck!"_

_And when I referenced Krad as a "demonic angel", that is indeed a nod to you, Angelic Demoness, as this chapter is dedicated to you, my one and only, my dear, _dear_ Satoshi. *creepy grin*_

_Lastly, I LOVE the Little Prince! It was the first book I ever read in French, and it holds a very, very special place in my heart. A friend told me that the store near Notre Dame actually exists, though on my own trip to Paris, I was unable to locate it. T_T_

_Please R&R, folks!_


	18. Chapter 18

**Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief**

**Chapter 18**

* * *

Daisuke watched as Harry jumped headlong into a desk in a way that was undoubtedly painful.

"Now _that's _more like it!" Moody growled triumphantly, raising his wand. Harry's face turned into a grimace as he carefully reached towards his knees, which had smashed into the fallen desk. "Look at that, you lot," Moody continued, seemingly oblivious to Harry's suffering. "Potter fought! He fought it, and he damn near beat it! We'll try that again, Potter, and the rest of you, pay attention—watch his eyes, that's where you see it—very good, Potter, very good indeed! They'll have trouble controlling _you_!"

Moody proceeded to point his wand at Harry again, as the boy shakily rose to his feet. Daisuke glanced around the room and, judging by Lavender and Parvati's faces, guessed that no one else was particularly interested in fighting the curse if it resulted in as much pain as Harry seemed to be in.

Harry smiled weakly as he carefully righted the fallen desk and then leaned on it heavily. Daisuke wondered if the things that went on in this classroom were really sanctioned by the old and doddering-looking headmaster. Professor Moody had told them that what he was doing was perfectly acceptable and that Dumbledore wanted them "prepared", though for what Daisuke had no idea. Still, Daisuke remembered what Hermione had said during their study session about the curses being _unforgivable_ when they were cast on another human being. Moody, however, didn't seem to care about that.

"Here we go, Potter," Moody said, his gravelly voice fierce. _"Imperio!"_

Daisuke tried to watch Harry's green eyes closely, to make sure that his pain did not occur in vain. On the other side of the room, Ron and Hermione grimaced as they all watched Harry's expression go dim, and his legs flex gently. Suddenly, Harry's brow twitched, and then twitched again. One of his legs seemed to lock, but the other propelled him forward, and Harry toppled into the desk again.

Moody had Harry try to fight the Imperius Curse no less than three more times, and by that time, everyone was certain that the boy would have a hard time walking for the next few days, although on the final attempt, Harry had stood completely still and had only moved by shouting a violent, "NO!"

"Let's make sure Niwa gets a chance, because he'll have to leave early," Professor Moody said, his normal eye fixing on Daisuke as his other one zoomed around to stare at the aftermath of Harry's attempts and not-attempts to jump onto desks.

Daisuke took the few steps to the middle of the room cautiously, hoping that he wouldn't be made to do something stupid or painful. Lavender had made a decent squirrel impression, and he hoped that Moody would decide to have him do something like that. Or maybe he could pretend to be a rabbit instead. But he worried about it regardless. If Neville, who was more or less clumsy, could be made to do the acrobatics he had performed under the Imperious Curse… Daisuke wondered what sorts of things a trained thief like himself could do. He hoped that none of his secrets would be given away as he stepped to the front of the group, and gave nervous smiles to his fellow classmates.

"_Imperio!_" Professor Moody shouted, aiming his wand at Daisuke.

And suddenly, the world looked a little brighter and Daisuke felt a faintly familiar presence settle into a long-empty space in his mind, infusing him with a quiet sense of happiness. He was no longer worried about looking stupid or silly, and was even having trouble deciding what "silly" or "stupid" even meant.

_Do a backflip…_ said the voice in the back of his mind.

_Dark?_ Daisuke asked, his face lighting up into a smile. His other self sounded strange, but who else could talk to Daisuke in his mind? Who else occupied that blank space, and gave him this sort of confidence? Daisuke knew that Dark was out and about…. Had they finally been reunited?

_Do a backflip…_ said the voice again, but this time Daiuske realized that it didn't sound very much like Dark at all. It was too deep, and not as friendly. It was not the roguish and clever artwork that he knew and loved who was speaking in his mind. A cold feeling grew in his gut, dispersing the warmth from before… if the voice did not belong to Dark, then it could only belong to…

_DO IT!_ the voice cried in an angry hiss, and a vision of angry golden eyes and a feral smile leapt up before his wide eyes. Daisuke's jolt of fear knocked him out of the easy warmth, and he landed with both feet in the present moment, aware of Moody's slender wand pointing at him and the expectant faces of his classmates.

Daisuke blinked and looked around, cautiously meeting the eyes of his classmates. He looked back at Moody's stationary wand, and felt again the voice in the back of his mind that was not Dark.

_Sit down,_ it commanded, and Daisuke realized that the voice had to belong to Professor Moody. Then… that voice… that was the Imperius Curse? He looked at the wand raised to him, and then lifted his eyes up towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

_No_, he answered back defiantly, directing his thoughts as he would when speaking to his irreplaceable Phantom Thief. _I'm fighting the curse._

Daisuke struggled against the vaguely familiar sensation of the presence in his mind fighting for control. It was strange to have such a feeling trying to overcome him when his maiden Riku wasn't around, but he had had practice with trying to avoid turning into Dark or having Dark control him, so it wasn't very difficult to stop this voice that was even less persuasive than his other, silver-tongued self. He let the voice's presence batter pathetically in the back of his mind, ignoring it much as he would Dark when the thief were being obnoxious or making embarrassing comments about one of the twins.

_SIT DOWN!_ The voice yelled, angrily this time, and Daisuke's eyes turned suddenly and unerringly to his teacher's face. That voice… it didn't sound _exactly_ like his teacher… it sounded like it belonged to someone a little….

"Very good, Niwa!" Moody roared abruptly, dropping his wand and breaking the sudden eye contact by looking around the room at the other students. The presence evaporated from the back of his mind, and he suddenly felt more alone than he had since Dark left. "I've never seen anything like it! You've put poor Potter to shame, here! You didn't give in to _anything! _They could try, but _they couldn't make you do anything!"_

Daisuke shook his head and felt himself blush as he moved away from the center of the circle, towards his bag. He sincerely wished Dark could find a way to contact him. "Nothing, even on your first try!" Moody continued, laughing in a jubilant yet eerily guttural fashion. Daisuke resisted looking towards the teacher, still feeling oddly uncertain about the voice he had heard in his mind. It had been Professor Moody, certainly, but at the same time… something about it had been different. Not _wrong_, exactly, but something about it was different.

"Well, you'd better get going, Niwa," Moody said, his voice still in a congratulatory tone. "We'll see you back here tomorrow, and then the rest of you'd better pay attention—_this one_ really knows how to fight it!"

Daisuke nodded, picking up his things and making a hurried exit to Transfiguration.

* * *

The next afternoon, Daisuke slowed when he noticed a group of students crowding around the entrance to the Great Hall. He spotted Ron's head of red hair, and wondered what the commotion was about. Wasn't anyone interested in actually going to their dormitories? He yawned sleepily, still tired from trying to find a new Krad-alert spell with Ginny until the wee hours of the morning, and stepped up next to Ron when a pair of Ravenclaws departed.

"What's going on?" Daisuke asked, tapping Ron's shoulder.

The other boy looked back at him, and then grinned. "Take a look for yourself!" he said, pointing to a sign that had been posted on the stone wall, just as Harry popped out of the sea of black robes and held a hand up to give Ron a high five.

"Brilliant! It's Potions last thing on Friday! Snape won't have time to poison us all!" the green-eyed boy said triumphantly.

Daisuke looked at the sign carefully, realizing that he was getting quite good at reading English. Undoubtedly the translating textbooks and all the library reading he was doing helped.

**TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT**

THE DELEGATIONS FROM BEAUBATONS AND DURMNSTRANG WILL BE ARRIVING AT 6 O'CLOCK ON FRIDAY THE 30TH OF OCTOBER. LESSONS WILL END HALF AN HOUR EARLY.

STUDENTS WILL RETURN THEIR BAGS AND BOOKS TO THEIR DORMITORIES AND ASSEMBLE IN FRONT OF THE CASTLE TO GREET OUR GUESTS BEFORE THE WELCOMING FEAST.

Daisuke sighed, realizing that he'd miss a portion of his private lessons with Professor Moody. He yelped only slightly when he turned and nearly ran into Neville, who had been standing right beside him, and the two boys blinked and apologized to each other awkwardly until Daisuke suggested they go up to Gryffindor Tower together.

Throughout the entire week, all anyone could talk about was the arrival of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students. During his private charms lesson, Professor Flitwick seemed anxious that Daisuke really work hard so he could appear as knowledgeable as the rest of the students his age, and although he didn't explicitly say that it was to impress the visiting students, Daisuke was certain that that was the reason behind his teacher's nervousness.

This trend continued throughout all of his private lessons, except for those with Moody, who was too practical and didn't care about others' opinions. Professor McGonagall, however, mentioned specifically that Daisuke, as well as the rest of the student body, represented Hogwarts' standards of excellence in learning and behavior, and that they had all better show it when the students from the other schools arrived. What it all amounted to, however, was simply more homework for Daisuke as each teacher attempted to get him all caught up by October 30th,rather than by the end of the year.

"But I have so much work to do," Daisuke complained Saturday afternoon when Ginny approached him with the familiar, let's-get-down-to-the-business-of-fighting-Krad gleam in her eyes. "I haven't even started reading the book Snape wants me to finish by Monday. And I can't translate it intoGerman, either, so it's going to take me ages." He hung his head and exhaled in despair. "I'm doomed. I really am."

Ginny sighed and sat down on the arm of his chair, staring into the heat of the common room's fire. "Well, I can always do some of my own research on the subject…." She shifted, and then peered down at him. "Why don't you work on your homework, and I'll look in the library for info. After dinner, I'll let you know if I've found anything." She popped off the chair's arm, even as Daisuke protested.

"What! I can't have you doing all my work, Ginny!" he said a little too loudly in surprise. Across the room, Hermione lifted her eyes from her book and gave Ginny a cool look.

"It's not like it's simply _your_ work, Daisuke. I'm interested in this sort of stuff, anyway." She shrugged like it was no big deal, although Daisuke knew precisely the pain it was to stumble through ancient, magical tomes in search of easy spells to cast on a very complicated matter. "I'll catch you at dinner," Ginny called, and then exited through the portrait hole.

He sighed, and picked up A Curious Guide to Curious Substances, settling it into his lap and hoping he would have some free time later.

* * *

"I'm wondering if there's anything in the…" Ginny began, and then suddenly her tone dropped and her eyes darted around. Daisuke leaned in closer over the well-laden table. "The _Restricted Section_," she finished, and then both leaned back and began working on their mashed potatoes.

"What is that, anyway?" Daisuke asked after swallowing. He really had to ask one of these days who the school cook was, or which spell produced such excellent courses.

"It's part of the library," Ginny answered. She sighed. "But students generally aren't allowed to access it. Especially if they don't have a good reason for doing so." She shook her head. "I've heard rumors of people trying to sneak in, but… last year, Melinda Fairchild—she's graduated now—was caught and apparently Filch made her into his apprentice for the rest of the year."

It occurred to Daisuke that Ginny didn't realize she was talking to the world's greatest thief. "But if there was a specific book that we were looking for, or something… then we wouldn't have to spend much time there," he said, trying to sound nonchalant.

Ginny paused to give him a flat look before downing a glass of pumpkin juice. "She was a seventh-year, Daisuke. And she got caught. There's no way we can pull it off." She paused thoughtfully. "Though…" she began, and then shook her head.

"Though what?" Daisuke pressed.

"Though I have a feeling that if anyone knows how it'd be done, it'd be my brothers."

Daisuke knew through her choice of plural that she was referring to Fred and George, rather than Ron. They _were_ known for knowing things that no one else knew, and for being able to get away with anything. But Daisuke shook his head. "I don't want anyone else to get involved."

Ginny poked at her meatloaf, and Daisuke wondered why she hadn't eaten it all already. His own had been gone before she had gotten to the table, and he was halfway through his second helping. "It's just… there was this book mentioned, and it seemed like it'd be really useful."

"What was it called?" Daisuke asked.

"Seeing As The Blind," she answered. "And I know it's at Hogwarts, and it's not checked out, and it's not on the shelves."

"Hm," Daisuke responded, wondering when he had decided to go steal it from the library's Restricted Section. At some point during the conversation, it had become obvious that he should do so, and _was_ going to do so. Daisuke exhaled slowly and stared down at his potatoes. If Ginny thought that the book could help them against Krad, then he would go and get it.

* * *

He held his finger up to his lips to signal to the Fat Lady that he was asking for her secrecy. She smiled knowingly, and pretended to settle back into sleep, though he could see her left eye peeking out at him.

Daisuke pulled his black vest closer around him, remembering how he had complained to his mother when she insisted he pack his thieving gear. He had said that he didn't need it or want it around. Of course, his mom had been right that he would thank her later. He reminded himself to do so when he returned home for Christmas break.

The halls of Hogwarts Castle were dark, and appeared much narrower and much longer than they did in the daytime, or even in the evening when they were brightly lit by wall-hung torches. However, there was no one around, even most of the paintings were sleeping, and Daisuke was a well-trained thief. Nearly to the caliber of Phantom Thief, though Dark would always be better at the sort of vanishing the black-winged Phantom Thief was known for.

Daisuke slipped silently down the hallway, treading carefully on the stone as he approached the moving staircases. It being nighttime, they were moving much slower and with much less noise. Sometimes the grinding of the rotating stones could drown out conversation on the stairways, but tonight the stairs were producing a quiet white noise like sand slowly being poured onto the floor. Daisuke smiled. The noise from the staircases could only help him escape detection, although their slower speed would slow him down if he were to use them normally.

He mentally computed the trajectories of the staircases, and found his path. He dropped down off the edge of the hallway, landing in a crouch a floor below on a ponderous staircase. He nimbly ran halfway up the steps, and then leapt across to another staircase, clinging to the railing and pulling himself up deftly. He stayed on top of the wide, stone railing as he made his way up to the hallway that led to the library, hopping lightly onto the top step as it swung into place.

Daisuke mentally sighed as he walked down the hallway, skirting quickly past windows and keeping in the shadows. There was no one out here! It was like sneaking out of bed at night wasn't even a challenge, and so far, it hadn't been.

He slowed as he reached the double-doors of the library, and carefully checked down each corridor, and listened intently for any sign of movement on the other side. He glanced at the door's broad handle, and saw that it wasn't even locked. In fact, there was no way to even lock it if someone wished to do so. He gently pushed the door open, varying the force he used to avoid creaking hinges.

There was only the overpowering sound of silence as he slipped inside the library, keeping the door ajar behind him. Starlight filtered in through the high windows on the far side of the shelves of books and there, towards the back, was the gated portion, marked _Restricted Section_, in a gothic-looking script. Daisuke glanced around, staying by the wall as he made his way towards the far corner of the room, staying alert for any movement.

There wasn't even a librarian!

The enclosure around the Restricted Section was only about seven feet high—easy leaping distance—though one look at the lock told Daisuke all he needed to know about the security. He reached for his lock-picking kit, and then paused, reaching for his wand. It wasn't as if he didn't know the spell for unlocking doors….

He looked behind himself carefully, and drew his wand, holding the tip at the lock. _"Alohomora,"_ he whispered. The lock clicked free, and he carefully opened the gate, wincing slightly as it creaked lowly. He stepped inside, ducking into a shadow as he glanced towards the library's door.

Immediately, he felt a peculiar sensation, like something crawling over the top of his skin. Something was making his senses tingle, and although after a little bit he realized it wasn't unpleasant, it was still slightly uncomfortable. He peered up at the towering stacks of books ensconced in the nighttime shadows, and thought that perhaps there was a reason they were locked up in the Restricted Section.

He took a deep breath and then froze, his eyes darting to the doorway. Something had slunk into the library, and for a moment, he was uncertain what it was. And then….

Luminous yellow eyes gazed towards the Restricted Section from the floor.

Daisuke held his breath. Filch's cat.

He hoped her master wasn't nearby, but knew that if the cat noticed anything, somehow Filch was likely to come running. When the cat looked down another aisle, Daisuke slipped further into the shadows, silently retreating towards the shadowed back wall. The cat hadn't noticed.

Daisuke looked up at the books, skimming the author's names for Filgus Fletcher, author of the book Ginny wanted. He paused, listening to the tiny, quick steps of the cat approaching the Restricted Section. Would she notice that the gate was unlocked?

Along the back wall and behind the bright rays of moonlight that streamed through the windows, Daisuke looked for the right aisle. He slunk through the dark gaps between the squared pools of light, and peered up the aisle, keeping his ears pricked for the sounds of the cat.

There it was, Seeing As The Blind, by Filgus Fletcher, on the sixth shelf. Daisuke smiled. Now all he had to do was jump up and grab the book, and sneak past a cat on his way out. It was nothing like the thieving he had had to do with Dark.

Daisuke took a few steps back to prepare for his running leap, and hoped he wouldn't be too loud. As he took his first running step, the door to the library creaked opened and the faint traces of light broke through the gloom of the Restricted Section. Thinking fast, Daisuke ran and jumped, pulling the book off the shelf and clinging to the side of the bookshelf, hoping that the creaking of the door had masked the noise. He thanked the architects of Hogwarts that the shelves were sturdy enough to support his weight without complaining. Daisuke suppressed a shudder as his proximity to the books heightened the creepy-crawly feeling across his bare skin.

"What've we got here?" came Filch's raspy voice. There was an answering meow from the cat. "Students in the Restricted Section?"

Daisuke knew the cat hadn't seen him, so Filch must have seen that the gate was unlocked. Next time, he would be sure to just leap over it. The lantern light was bouncing around by the gate, anyway.

"I know you're in there…" Filch called, and Daisuke knew that the statement was unlikely. The Hogwarts caretaker must just be guessing that someone was in the library, and hoping that if anyone _were_ hiding, they'd just come forward. However, Filch and the cat _were_ blocking the exit, so he needed to make some kind of distraction.

Sighing quietly, Daisuke pulled out another book. Although he felt bad for damaging library material, he figured the book could handle what he had in mind.

"I'll find you," Filch continued, the light from the lantern moving deeper into the Restricted Section.

Figuring it was now or never, Daisuke threw the extra book in one direction and dropped lightly to the ground, sprinting in the other. However, when the book flapped open and began cursing loudly, even Daisuke was surprised at how successful a tactic it was.

The lantern light flashed past along with Filch's poorly-dressed body and the smaller form of his tabby. "Now we've got you!" the man cried over the book's swears as Daisuke slipped out the gate and made a beeline for the door.

Filch had kindly left it open for him, and in a few seconds, Daisuke was quietly racing down the shadows of the hallway, Seeing As The Blind tucked under his arm. He navigated the stairways quite easily, hopping across one and then jumping off another to roll into the hallway that led to Gryffindor Tower. The hallways were just as quiet and still as they had been on his way out, and Daisuke was smiling by the time he returned to the Fat Lady's portrait.

She had dozed off during his absence, so he gently woke her up and told her the password. Blinking sleepily, she shook her head as if pretending to scold him, but swung her frame out and smiled secretively.

Daisuke climbed through the portrait hole, and then wandered up to bed, placing the book on his nightstand. He couldn't wait to see the look on Ginny's face when he gave it to her the next morning.

* * *

Ginny was indeed surprised, and gave Daisuke a very long and level look. "I'm not sure how you managed this, but I'll look it over." She looked away for a second, and then looked back. "Did you ask Fred and George for help?"

Daisuke shook his head, and then Ginny hung hers with a sigh. "Diasuke, didn't I warn you about sneaking around? Imagine if you had to work for Filch on top of all the other stuff we're doing…."

Daisuke rolled his eyes. "Come on, Ginny, I'm not entirely useless!" he retorted cheekily, and they left it at that.

By Friday, Ginny had the two of them practicing a new spell in Flitwick's classroom, but it was so far beyond their level that she kept getting partway into it and then realizing they were missing an item or a technique. It was tiring, but they kept at it, knowing that every moment they spent working to defeat Krad was not a wasted one.

However, when the bell rang early on Friday afternoon, and Daisuke was excused by Professor Moody with the promise of fighting boggarts the next week, he was not thinking of Krad defenses. The foreign students were scheduled to arrive any minute, and the excitement in the air was nearly palpable. He caught up with Hermione, Ron, and Harry on the staircase to Gryffindor Tower, and listened to them chatter excitedly as he followed them into the Common Room.

They deposited their bags and then hurried back down to the front of the castle, where the Heads of Houses were trying to line up the groups of nervous and excited students. He found himself standing next to the other Gryffindor fourth years as the sun moved closer and closer to the horizon, spreading a hazy twilight across the grounds.

"Nearly six," Ron said, checking his watch. "How d'you reckon they're coming? The train?"

"I doubt it," Hermione replied, shaking her head.

Harry peered over at them. "How, then? Broomsticks?"

"I don't think so… not from that far away…" she answered, looking pensive.

"A Portkey?" asked Ron, glancing at Daisuke with a shrug before turning back to Hermione. "Or they could Apparate—maybe you're allowed to do it under seventeen wherever they come from?"

"What's Portkey and Apparate?" Daisuke asked, feeling stupid.

But before Hermione could answer, Dumbledore's voice silenced the crowd, although the old man wasn't speaking very loudly. "Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons arrives!"

Before the old wizard had finished speaking, mumurs spread throughout the waiting throng. People began shuffling more than the typical stamping their feet to get rid of a chill.

"_There!"_ shouted someone behind him, and everyone turned to see an arm pointing into the sky above the Forbidden Forest.

Shouts erupted from the crowd, even as the teachers attempted to keep them quiet. "It's a dragon!"

"Don't be stupid… it's a flying house!"

Daisuke gasped as he finally realized what it was. It was a _carriage_, being pulled by _flying horses._ He shook his head as it came nearer, and then blinked as it came even nearer, growing larger and larger. In fact, it seemed to be a _giant_ carriage, pulled by _giant_ flying horses. Each steady sweep of the horses' wings brought the blue carriage closer, as it twisted this way and that over the treetops, and swooped low for a landing in front of the lake.

The first pair of horses thundered to the ground, and the rest followed like a herd of charging rhinos until they were finally reined in and stood, stomping the wet ground and tossing their golden heads imperiously. One shoved its partner with a golden wing and then danced away. Daisuke knew a wide grin was pressed onto his face as if permanent.

Magic was amazing! A boy in sky blue robes jumped out of the carriage and lowered golden steps from the side door. Daisuke sucked in a huge breath, and then expelled it in surprise as the largest woman he had ever seen stepped out onto the first step and raised herself to her full height.

He joined in the applause that followed her appearance, but stared at her. She continued down the steps, nearly blending into the dark forest behind her with her long dress of black satin. Still, it was like watching the carriage approach all over again—she just kept getting closer and larger, even though she was plenty large enough at a distance. Daisuke began to wonder if there was something wrong with his depth perception, but it looked like the rest of his friends were staring at her with the same kind of disbelief.

"My dear Madame Maxime," Dumbledore said after lightly kissing her hand. "Welcome to Hogwarts." Behind Madame Maxime, about a dozen teenagers dressed in light blue robes filed out of the carriage and lined up in neat rows.

"Dumbly-dorr, I 'ope I find you well?" the woman asked in a deep tenor. Daisuke blinked suddenly, recognizing the accent. These visiting wizards were French.

"In excellent form, I thank you," the Hogwarts Headmaster assured her. The two headmasters continued chatting quietly, and then Madame Maxime called to her students and led them through the crowd of Hogwarts students into the Great Hall. Daisuke felt only a small pang of jealousy, and stomped his feet to keep the blood circulating through them. The sun had fully set, and it was nearly November. Fog was already forming over the lake and a pale moon was rising.

"How big d'you reckon Durmstrang's horses are going to be?" asked Seamus. Daisuke shivered in the cold as Harry leaned out of the row and answered. Somehow they ended up imagining Hagrid's Skrewts running loose on the Hogwarts grounds a few minutes later, each of them suppressing a shudder a the thought.

"Can you hear something?" Ron asked suddenly, and immediately Daisuke listened for the sounds of an approaching Blast-Ended Skrewt. He swallowed, and then a seventh year Gryffindor pointed to the lake and shouted.

"The lake! Look at the lake!"

Daisuke had the mental image of a giant Skrewt very much like a Kraken, and then realized that a giant whirlpool was spiraling deeper and deeper in the center of the black water. What _were_ the Skrewts, anyway? The murmurs and whispers of excitement got louder and then, majestically, something rose out of the center of the whirlpool, and it wasn't anything gross, fishy-smelling, or tentacled.

First it was a long black pole, then another, draped with ropes and sails. Daisuke stared in awe as a great black ship broke from the whirlpool, spraying white flashes of water to the sides as it bobbed along the quieting surface of the lake, causing the mist alongside it to swirl under the moonlight. Eerie, dim light gleamed from the portholes, giving it the appearance of a ghost ship arising from the depths of the sea.

But a few moments later, the ship had come closer into shore and Daisuke could vaguely see through the dim moonlight that people were disembarking.

"Dumbledore!" shouted the leader, a man in a silver fur coat. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"

"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied as the man—Karkaroff, apparently—drew closer, followed by a small crowd.

Behind Karkaroff, who was dressed in a silver-furred coat, stood roughly a dozen boys in shaggy fur coats with thick, furry hats. Again, Daisuke felt slightly jealous. They looked so _warm_. "Dear old Hogwarts," Karkaroff said as he shook Dumbledore's hand and smiled. "How good it is to be here, how good…. Viktor, come along, into the warmth… you don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold…" the man continued, beckoning one of his students to the front.

Dumbledore nodded and gestured for the Durmstrang students to head on into the castle, and the Hogwarts students filed in afterwards.

"I don't believe it!" Ron was saying, "Krum, Harry! _Viktor Krum!"_

Daisuke had no idea what Ron was talking about, but thankfully Hermione cleared it up. "For heaven's sake, Ron, he's only a Quidditch player."

"_Only a Quidditch player?_" Ron asked incredulously. "Hermione—he's one of the best Seekers in the world! I had no idea he was still at school!"

Daisuke found Ginny among the group as they entered the Great Hall. She waved him over as she sat down next to Dean. A moment later, they were joined by Parvati and Lavender, who Daisuke hadn't managed to spend too much time with recently, owing to studying and anti-Krad measures. Dean shook his head in disappointment as the Durmstrang students, now freeing themselves from their heavy furs and dressed in crimson sat with the Slytherins. The blue of the Beauxbatons students were at the Ravenclaw table, two of the girls sitting next to Parvati's twin. Daisuke smiled. It was always fun to have international students stay for a while, remembering Mio Hio. Suddenly, the blue robed students leapt to their feet, and the school staff swept up the center aisle. Only when Madame Maxine was seated did they return to their own.

Dumbledore raised a hand, and then launched into one of his usual speeches, though thankfully it was quick. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and—most particularly—guests. I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable. The tournament will be official opened at the end of the feast. I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

As Dumbledore sat down, Daisuke's eyes wandered over to the rest of the hall. Everyone was beginning to eat and laugh and smile. The red and blue robes of the foreign students were dotted around the tables, making the room seem cozier, as if it were filled with many more students and many more stories. Suddenly, he realized he was proud to be a Hogwarts student, and for the first time in a long time, Daisuke had a great urge to paint something. Something like a Great Hall filled with happy people, with bright colors here and there popping out between the black robes. With a ceiling that mimicked the night sky, and great floating candles. If only he could capture the true magic of the moment….

"Hey, pay attention, Daisuke, or you're going to miss out on the food!" Ginny laughed, shaking her head. He turned back around to face the table, and immediately felt silly. Though after taking one look at the dinner spread out on the table was enough to make him forget his embarrassment.

"What do you think this is?" Parvati asked, staring at some kind of soup.

"Bouillabaisse," Daisuke and Hermione said at the same time. They stared at each other for a moment and then laughed.

"I had it on holiday last summer," Hermione explained, looking down the table at Parvati, and then across the table at Ron.

Daisuke nodded. "I have some friends who are French," he explained to the black-haired girl who had asked about the cuisine. "Sometimes they come over and cook French stuff with my mom."

Parvati laughed delicately, and helped herself to some from the bowl. It did smell delicious. Daisuke had some and then passed it along to Ron.

"Excuse me," a French and feminine voice said a moment later, "are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?"

Daisuke blinked as he looked behind them at the girl. She was… incredible. Long, silvery-blonde hair draped across her back, flowing nearly to her waist. Her eyes were a clean, crisp blue, and her lips were a smooth, perfect pink. The way her blue robe hung across her thin frame was… alluring. Daisuke opened his mouth to tell her what he thought of her, when she scooped up the bowl of bouillabaisse and flounced gently back to the Ravenclaw table.

Daisuke blinked, and turned back around to face his own dinner. Wait… what had just happened? Parvati, Lavender, and Ginny were all giving him odd looks, as if his hair had just turned blue.

"She's a _veela_!" Ron gasped.

And suddenly, everyone was laughing. Or at least, it seemed like all the girls were. The boys were mostly nodding or, as in Daisuke's case, looking confused.

"Oh, you _liked_ her," Ginny called to him in a sing-song voice, raising her eyebrows as Dean chuckled. Parvati didn't look impressed, but Lavender was having trouble trying not to laugh.

The rest of the meal continued without further interruptions from the beautiful French girl, although Ginny kept referring to her just to tease Daisuke, as well as Ron. Dean and Harry had seemed relatively unaffected by her, and Hermione and Parvati simply maintained aloofness from the ordeal. But the food was enough to distract Daisuke, and he plowed his way through a bowl of bouillabaisse, several calamari rings, two helpings of fried eggplant, a salad, a helping of asparagus, a piece of garlic bread, and two roasted chicken thighs.

By the time dessert arrived—in the form of lemon meringues, pecan pies, German chocolate cake, and candied walnut bars—Daisuke was stuffed, yet he took some cake anyway. He leaned back, wondering if he could really finish it, when heads turned towards the staff table. He blinked, wondering who were the people with unfamiliar faces, and when they had arrived. He sighed, feeling very imperceptive for a well-trained thief.

"The moment has come," Dumbledore began as the Great Hall quieted. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports." The crowd applauded vigorously for Bagman, though Daisuke really had no idea why. He chewed on another bite of cake, and then swallowed as Dumbledore went on.

"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament, and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions efforts." Dumbledore paused for a moment, and then looked towards the back of the room.

"The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch."

All eyes turned to Filch, and the man walked up the center aisle of the Great Hall, carrying a large jewel-encrusted box. He set the chest carefully down on the table in front of Dumbledore, and moved off to the side as Dumbledore continued.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman, and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways… their magical prowess—their daring—their powers of deductions—and, of course, their ability to cope with danger.

"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament, one from each of the participating schools," Dumbledore said as the room fell absolutely still and silent. "They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."

Deftly, the headmaster pulled out his want and tapped three times on the jeweled chest. The led creaked as it opened, and Dumbledore placed his hand within it, removing a singularly amazing goblet.

It appeared to be full to the brim with blue fire, with a slender golden neck and curiously engraved cup. Daisuke blinked at it, wondering on earth how a cup—even a magical one—could choose a champion.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," Dumbledore went on, raising his voice so it rang clearly throughout the hall. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line.

"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

Daisuke couldn't concentrate very well on all the chatter from his fellow students as they were dismissed and made their way up to Gryffindor Tower. His thoughts seemed scattered, as if they were bouncing around in every direction and impossible to catch. He wondered what the Triwizard Tournament was going to be like as he passed through the stone corridors that were gradually filled with fewer and fewer students as each went off to their houses. He thought that the blood red and sky blue of the foreign students' uniforms could certainly liven up the atmosphere of Hogwarts' black robed interior. He wondered if any of the foreign students spoke German, and suddenly thought of Riku, who was fluent in French. It would be neat if one of her relatives was a student at Beauxbatons, and had come to Hogwarts for the tournament.

Or maybe, they would allow spectators to come watch. Daisuke would certainly invite Riku if he could, but he had the feeling that Muggles weren't supposed to be invited to the magical castle. He sighed, but brightened up at the thought that his parents and grandfather would probably be able to come watch the tasks with him.

Which student would become the Hogwarts champion, anyway? He heard some rumors that Ced—

"Daisuke," Ginny laughed, appearing at his side from out of nowhere. "You look so silly when you're deep in thought." She shook her head. "Sometimes it's hard to believe that you can be so pensive," she said, a trace of her laugh lingering in her words.

Daisuke stopped walking as he felt his cheeks begin to heat up. "I look silly?!" he asked in embarrassment. "I-I was just thinking about the tasks, that's all!" He shook his head in an effort to clear his blush away. "Who do you think is going to be the Hogwarts champion?" He looked anywhere but at Ginny, knowing that she was probably going to try to embarrass him even more if he looked at her. He remembered dinner very well, and focused on the paintings on the wall behind her, who were looking sleepy.

"I dunno," the girl replied, shrugging. "Some people have been saying it'll either be Ced—"

"DAISUKE!" came a shrill call from the wall behind him. Daisuke jumped and whirled around, suddenly filled with tension. Ginny's green eyes refocused to the wall in alarm.

A dark shape jetted out from a behind a painted hillside and zoomed closer to the frame, two black wings beating heavily. For a moment, Daisuke recognized the shape as something very familiar, and then realized exactly who it was.

"Seireth?" he asked in confusion as she pulled her panting dragon to a halt into a meadow, causing both shepherd and sheep to scatter.

"Krad's inside the castle!" she shouted, gasping for breath. For a moment, the entire world froze. Daisuke's insides felt completely solid, and his arms were suddenly very heavy. Krad was… that terrible golden angel was… and he and Ginny hadn't yet… that spell was too… but Krad was already…. "You're in danger!" the dragontamer yelled, snapping him out of his spiraling thoughts. "He came in by the Astronomy Tower, and I came as fast as I could! Sir Cadogan and the Navigators are trying to hold him off, but…" Seireth's brow wrinkled awfully and she shook her head.

Ginny latched onto his arm. "To the Great Hall! There might still be some teachers there!" she cried, and the two began running. As they skidded around a corridor, they passed a Slytherin student, who looked suddenly startled to see them race past.

"Run away!" Daisuke called, recognizing Crabbe as he and Ginny paused to wait for a staircase to swing into place. Crabbe just stared at them in confusion for a moment, and then looked down towards the other end of the hallway as a ferocious cry echoed down towards them.

"We don't have time!" Daisuke yelled, grabbing onto Ginny's wrist. "Hold on!" he yelled as the sounds of screams and angry yells came closer. He took a step towards the ledge and felt Ginny's arms close instinctively around him.

"Daisuke! What do you think you're doing?!" she gasped as she followed his gaze down to a staircase swinging into place two flights below. A breeze blew past them, causing Ginny's red hair to slide across his neck.

Suddenly, a fearfully melodic voice rippled out from behind them. "Indeed, Daisuke," said the voice as Daisuke and Ginny turned to look behind him, "what do you think you're doing?"

Crabbe had vanished, and where he had stood was the form of a tall, blond angel. White feathers drifted towards his feet as his lips curved in a feral smile. He was just as Daisuke remembered him. Just as he had been before Daisuke and Hiwatari had locked him back up in the Black Wings. Just as real, and just as dangerous.

Daisuke flung himself and Ginny off the edge, away from Krad, and along with Ginny's scream and the air rushing past his ears, there was another sound.

Krad's laughter as he beat his wings and followed them off the edge.

Daisuke caught the edge of the staircase's railing with one arm and immediately swung Ginny up onto the staircase. A blur of white feathers streaked towards them as Daisuke climbed up, and Ginny had regained her senses, drawing her wand.

"_Descendo!"_ she shouted, and Krad whizzed right past them, falling lower towards the basement levels. Daisuke leapt to the stairs and they continued their escape to the Great Hall, running down an empty corridor. Even the portraits had fled their frames in fear of Krad.

Daisuke risked a glance behind as they rounded another corner, and saw that Krad had recovered from his fall and was zooming down the hallway behind them, his golden eyes locked onto his target.

"He's gaining!" Daisuke shouted to Ginny above the noise of their pounding feet.

"We're almost there!" she called back, and true enough, they could already see the bluish glow from the Goblet of Fire.

"Too slow," said a deep voice right beside his ear. Daisuke leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding Krad's pale clutches as the sadistic artwork shot past him.

Ginny veered to the other side of the hallway, coming to halt as Krad pulled up in front of them, twirling and landing gently onto the stone floor between them and the entrance to the Great Hall. She raised her wand against him, and opened her mouth.

Before she could get any words out, Krad raised a gloved hand, and narrowed his golden eyes. Ginny gasped as a warm light surrounded her.

Daisuke pointed his wand at Krad. _"Petrificus totalus!"_ he shouted, feeling a surge of energy zip through his wand and snap Krad to the floor. Ginny sagged as she was released from Krad's spell, but a moment later, Krad roared to his feet. A wind picked up, and Daisuke grabbed Ginny's hand to run back the way they had come.

"You can't run away forever!" Krad called gleefully, stretching his wings and drawing a feather in each hand.

"Watch out!" Daisuke shouted, pulling Ginny to the side as a white feather whizzed past and exploded onto the wall, showering them with bits of mortar and dust. Another landed right behind them, tripping up Ginny and causing Daisuke to somersault. He rolled right back onto his feet and held out one hand to Ginny, raising his wand to Krad with the other.

"_Impedimentia!"_ he yelled, and saw Krad falter in his approach, though only for a moment.

"_Incarcerous!"_ Ginny shouted angrily as she got to her feet and spun to face Krad. Immediately ropes appeared from nowhere and coiled around Krad like hungry snakes. With a hiss, Krad ripped them apart and threw another feather, causing Ginny to duck as Daisuke held his wand towards Krad.

"_Impedimentia!"_ he shouted again, this time missing as Krad lunged towards Ginny, who was still cringing and shaking off falling debris. Krad tossed another feather at the ceiling, and Daisuke pulled Ginny back as a heavy stone thudded to the space she had just recently occupied.

Krad let loose another peal of laughter. "So unevenly matched, I'd say," he said, and Daisuke shivered at the memories that voice was unlocking. All the anguish that voice had put Hiwatari through, and all the pain he had inflicted on Riku, Risa, and everyone else.

"Think again!" Ginny answered defiantly, following her words with, _"Stupefy!"_

Krad held up a feather and the red light from Ginny's wand dissolved as it touched the soft, white down. Krad smirked as Ginny took a sudden step back, nearly bumping into Daisuke.

"As I said," Krad purred, glancing down for a moment before looking at the pair with half-lidded eyes. "So unevenly matched." He tossed the feather to the floor underneath them, breaking Daisuke and Ginny's apart as the tumbled backwards into the walls opposite each other. The feather was followed by a second, above Ginny, and a third, behind her.

"_Impedimentia!"_ Daisuke shouted, feeling like his spells were useless. Ginny shrieked as parts of the ceiling crashed down around her. Daisuke knew a lot of spells, and a lot of theory, but none of the spells he could use seemed to be particularly effective. In fact, out of the ones that were useful against foes, most seemed to have little or no effect. Krad's legs locked up, but he compensated with his wings as Ginny leapt from the rubble and into Krad's path.

"_Expelliarmus!"_ she shouted, and Krad's feather rocketed from his grip, exploding into the floor behind him. She pointed her wand towards Krad's face as he grinned and brought his wings forward.

"Ginny!" Daisuke yelled suddenly, even as Ginny shouted, _"Stupe-"_ and was cut off by Krad sweeping his wings back, lunging forward and backhanding her into the wall.

Her cry silenced as she tumbled to the floor, horrible limp. Ginny… she wasn't….

Krad licked his lips carefully as he turned to Daisuke, forcing the boy to watch him. Daisuke narrowed his eyes. _"Impedimentia!"_ he yelled, causing Krad's right wing to falter, but by then he had freed his legs. He had to do something—Ginny wasn't moving!—but _what?_ He had no more tricks up his sleeve, no more magic spells, no more space to run even, because he and Ginny had turned down a hallway that ended in a doorway to a classroom.

Krad's face suddenly loomed in front of him, grinning maliciously. Daisuke's back was pressed against the wall, and before he could wriggle away, Krad slapped his wand from his hand.

Daisuke ducked away and dove for the wand, rolling as he picked it up and faced Krad.

"This is turning out to be much easier than I thought," Krad said smoothly, raising another feather between his thumb and first finger.

"_Petrificus totalus!"_ Daisuke yelled, and saw to his dismay that the feather once again was absorbing curses. He searched his mind for something—anything—that he could use, and came up with a spell he hadn't quite mastered. _"Levicorpus!"_ he shouted, pointing his wand. Krad laughed as nothing happened. _"Aguamenti!"_ he tried, and drenched Krad with a spout of water.

Suddenly, Daisuke's back was thrust against the wall, and a sopping, angry angel leered above him. "Now you've simply angered me," Krad said, eyes narrowing only inches from Daisuke's face. Daisuke struggled, trying to break free as Krad's grip tightened around his throat. The empty portraits beside him clattered to the floor, and he kicked Krad in the leg. The angry artwork did not even flinch, and instead leaned forward, so that his lips were nearly brushing against Daisuke's ear.

"And now I've finally caught you," he whispered slowly, causing Daisuke to shudder uncontrollably.

Was this… the end?

He squeezed his eyes shut. His throat was becoming tighter and tighter and his struggling getting weaker and weaker. Inevitably, Krad's laughter became louder and louder.

"_DAISUKE!!!"_

* * *

_Author's note: I'd say I'm sorry about the cliffhanger, but I'm really not. :3 Please review with questions, comments, criticisms, or just plain spazzes. See you next chapter!_


	19. Chapter 19

**Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief**

**Chapter 19**

* * *

"_DAISUKE!!"_

The sound of his name jolted through Daisuke like a bolt of lightning. That voice, it couldn't be—

He opened his eyes suddenly, and searched the empty, debris-ridden hallway. Beyond Krad, there was nothing, other than….

A painting, knocked to the floor. Some ancient philosopher's study, empty except for one brilliant, familiar, perfect figure.

"DAAARK!!" Daisuke yelled, renewing his struggle against Krad as he stretched his foot towards the Phantom Thief.

"I'm coming, Daisuke," came the determined response as the edge of the canvas surrounding Dark's black-gloved hand bulged, oil swirling into an array of prismatic colors. Dark's amethyst eyes were locked onto his own, a roguish smirk on his lips. And suddenly, Daisuke felt something nudge his foot, and a warmth unlike any other course through him.

_You can take it from here, right, Dark?_ Daisuke asked, relief and a deep calm flooding through his voice as he felt the presence of his other self finally rejoin him. He sank back into a deeper part of himself, feeling his hair lengthen and his height increase to that of Dark's.

_That's what I'm here for, Daisuke,_ the Phantom Thief replied, staring out with narrowing purple as Krad took a step back. _Sorry it took me so long._ If Daisuke could have shaken his head, he would have. He didn't mind that Dark had taken his time—all that mattered was that he and Dark were finally reunited.

Daisuke could feel the easy relaxation of Dark's body, the way the Phantom Thief took in their surroundings with one quick glance through the strands of deep, purple hair framing his handsome features. Dark easily loosened Daisuke's collar, sliding a button free with one hand. With a graceful smirk towards Krad, he shrugged out of Daisuke's black robes, letting the heavy material fall to the floor behind him as he took a single step forward.

"So, you've finally come out of hiding, Dark," Krad said, standing tall and spitting out the name of the Black Wings' darker half.

"Seems you have too, Krad," Dark replied casually, with only a hint of a cold anger in his voice. "Shall we get this over with?" he asked dangerously, before adding to Daisuke,_ What happened to Satoshi?_

_He's staying with the Harada's in France. I think Krad's using a Hogwarts student right now,_ Daisuke replied, and then gave an inward, reflexive gasp as Krad leapt towards them.

Dark effortlessly sidestepped the attack, and then spun around, facing Krad as he turned to lunge again, this time armed with a handful of white feathers.

"You never change, do you, Krad!" Dark called, taunting the white angel. Dark dove at the wall and then jumped off of it to dodge the first barrage of downy explosions.

"And you still love to talk," their enemy retorted in an aristocratic sneer.

_Daisuke, what's Wiz up to?_ Dark asked, probably aware that his rabbit familiar was far away. Daisuke sensed that his other self didn't want to call him out unnecessarily, especially if Wiz were off doing something important.

_He's the mailman for me and Riku,_ Daisuke answered, suddenly realizing he hadn't seen Wiz for some time. Had something happened to Riku? Or her sister, or Hiwatari? Or had someone intercepted Wiz, and some kind of important letter?

_Don't worry, they're probably fine,_ Dark assured him as he opened the door at the end of the hallway, looking for something he could use against Krad. An explosion to their immediate left made Daisuke remember that he was probably in more dire straits than any of his friends. Pieces of wood rained down on them as they ducked into the room.

The classroom was one Daisuke had never used before, but it was set up similarly to most of the other rooms, with rows of desks and chairs for the students, and a large teacher's desk at the back. One wall was filled with shelves, which were in turn filled with what Daisuke would call "magical stuff."

Dark grinned when he saw the shelves. _Some of this should slow him down for a while!_ he laughed, delicately taking a two jars from the shelves. A smirk covered his handsome face as Krad entered the room with a storm of dust and feathers, and then Dark expertly twisted the lid off one of the jars, aiming the top at Krad.

Immediately, a deep purple cloud whooshed from the jar and expanded into the room like a flood bursting through a dam. Krad's eyes flashed wide before he was swallowed from sight as the purple smoke thickened. The room seemed suddenly quiet, now that they couldn't see their enemy, and then Daisuke heard someone coughing.

_What _is_ this stuff?_ Daisuke asked Dark, wondering if killing their visibility was worth a few coughs. Besides, he could tell it was irritating Dark's lungs as well, though the Phantom Thief was resisting the urge to cough.

_It's just smoke, actually, enchanted to be thicker than normal._ Dark peered into the smoke, which made everything more than a meter away disappear into purple. _And purple, too_, Dark added, clearly pleased that color matched his own tastes. His lips turned upwards into a smirk, and Daisuke realized there was more to the clever thief's plan. _But watch what happens when I open _this_ jar._ Dark took a deep breath, and then held it.

A moment later, Dark pulled the lid free from the second jar, and the smoke changed color. The purple darkened almost to midnight, and then tiny sparks of light flashed throughout the room.

Dark remained perfectly still, and for about ten seconds, the room was absolutely silent. Daisuke waited anxiously, hoping that Krad was not about to leap out at them from the smoke.

A dull clunk echoed from somewhere across the room, and the illuminated points ceased flashing. As the smoke suddenly began to dissipate, Daisuke's nerves only got worse when he couldn't find the large, white form of their enemy.

When the room had cleared entirely, only about twenty seconds later, Dark exhaled sharply and began breathing normally. He set the empty jars on a desk top as he made his way confidently across the room towards where they had heard the last sounds of Krad's coughing.

"I see you're not really the educated type," Dark said as he rounded a desk. Lying on the floor in front of them was a prone Krad, whose skin had turned slightly purple. Was it from the gas?

The fallen angel shuddered, and hissed in a breath of air. It looked as if moving—even breathing—was difficult. Something was wrong with Krad's skin, keeping it from stretching and bending properly. Had Dark released some kind of paralyzing agent?

"I'm still… winning…" Krad returned in a venomous whisper. Daisuke caught a strange flash of triumph in his eyes.

"Doesn't look like it to me," Dark replied offhandedly, reaching down towards their enemy.

Krad's golden eyes flashed and he summoned enough energy to sweep a hand towards Dark, causing the Phantom Thief to withdraw a step with raised eyebrows and a slight chuckle. Krad's eyes darted around, as if he were looking for some way to fight back.

Even though Dark had managed to subdue the dangerous artwork and appeared completely at ease, Daisuke still felt uneasy being so close to him. Maybe they should tie him up, or keep him more thoroughly incapacitated. Was the smoke going to wear off soon? Did the smoke really work on art the same way it was supposed to work on humans? Did Dark even know the way it was supposed to work on humans, or was it actually designed to work on artwork? Or had it all been one in a long string of the Phantom Thief's consistently lucky guesses?

Whatever it was, Daisuke was certain he didn't like the way Krad's eyes lingered on them with a slight curl to his lips. He preferred it when the artwork was looking elsewhere, like the shelves full of magical things, or the portrait of a curious wiz—

He realized Krad's plan just as Krad did.

_Dark!_ Daisuke cried, just as a pair of golden eyes flickered to the painting. Krad suddenly flung himself upright, towards the startled portrait. _He's going to try to get away!_

Although it was clear the white angel could barely stand because his movement was so stiff and locked, he apparently had no trouble sliding a feather between his fingertips—it didn't really require physical movement. Dark's eyes narrowed and he swore as he realized what the art was up to.

"Shit!" he yelled, leaping back and hiding behind a desk as the ground in front of him exploded. Bits of stone clattered across the floor and over desktops, leaving trails of dust hanging in the air.

When the debris cleared, Krad was gone.

In his place was a purple-tinged and bleeding student. Crabbe, who he had passed on the stairs, who had unwittingly become a pawn for Krad.

_We have to get him to the nurse! And Ginny too!_ Daisuke said frantically, watching the blood ooze from the Slytherin's arm where a splinter of wood had been embedded into the pale, purplish skin. Dark nodded warily, and glanced up at the nearby painting. A single white feather floated towards the bottom of the frame and disappeared out of sight.

Dark shook his head, slowly sinking back into his space at the back of Daisuke's mind as their body changed back into Daisuke's. _Yeah, you're right._

* * *

Daisuke was quite alert as he made his way to Gryffindor Tower from the nurse's. Ginny and Crabbe had been admitted, and were sleeping soundly. According to Madame Pomfrey, neither had serious injuries, and both would probably be fine in the morning. He had insisted that she watch over them carefully throughout the entire night, figuring that if Krad returned, an adult witch might be better able to stop him. And he and Dark both agreed that a physician-witch was probably just as bound by the Hippocratic oath as a physician-Muggle. Madame Pomfrey sent him away after promising to watch over them, and recommending that he get some rest for the evening. She also advised him to try to keep his friends from being too clumsy in the future.

The reason for the last bit of advice was because Daisuke had told her that he and Ginny had found Crabbe already wounded and unconscious, but that Ginny herself had tripped on the staircase and been knocked out while taking him to the nurse's.

"Boulderdash," he told the Fat Lady, glancing down the hallway behind him. He couldn't be too sure he was alone in the hallway. Though he felt much safer now that Dark was back, it would still be bad news if Krad caught them unawares.

She nodded and swung partway open before very suddenly swinging shut. She gave him a very close stare, and he took a defensive step back. "You've not… I mean, you're not…" she began, her cheeks tingeing pink. She fanned herself a little more rapidly than usual, and Daisuke began to wonder what was causing her to act so strangely. "Violet said there's a rumor that… _he's_… returned," she said, leaning towards him with unusual intensity in her eyes.

Daisuke hesitated, even as Dark began to say something about how popular he was. "Depends on who you mean by 'he,'" he replied warily. There were two "he's" that had shown up that evening, and it made a huge difference which one the Fat Lady preferred.

The Fat Lady nodded knowingly and whispered. "Dark, of course."

With a sigh, Daisuke nodded. "Though you should keep a watch out for Krad, too, you know!" he insisted, even though it was clear she had stopped paying attention and was instead nearly swooning with the idea that Dark was nearby. Even though Dark had seemed confident that Krad had left the castle, Daisuke was less sure.

"I knew I could tell!" the Fat Lady chortled, and then she saw the look of reluctant acceptance on Daisuke's face. "Oh fine then, go ahead and go on in," she said, swinging forward to admit him in to the common room. He heard her giggling and calling to a friend as he slipped past her.

He crawled in, and found that the common room was nearly deserted, except for Fred, George, and their friend whose name was either Lee or Lyle or something of that nature. They looked like they were up to no good, huddled around in a corner, so he simply waved and went up to bed. Though he did feel a little bad that it was their little sister he had involved in a catastrophe and now she was spending the night at the nurse's…. If Ron were awake, he'd mention it to him.

_What would you tell them anyway, Daisuke?_ Dark asked, slinking closer to his attention. _If you're trying to keep Krad a secret from everyone, then you'll have trouble explaining why Ginny's hurt._ It was obvious from his tone that Dark didn't think much of Daisuke's plan to keep Krad a secret from other students, though Daisuke could not fathom why. Hiwatari had said that there were probably bad wizards at his school, and if Krad's attack was any indication, it seemed like he had been right. It wouldn't do to broadcast his association with Dark or Krad right now.

_I'd stick with the story I already made up!_ he told the Phantom Thief as he continued up the stairs. Not even one day into their renewed partnership, and Dark was already making trouble for him. _I'd tell him she took a tumble down the stairs, but that she's fine so there's no need to worry._

He could tell Dark was more or less rolling his eyes. _If there's no need to worry, Daisuke, then why are you so worried?_

As usual, Dark could see right through him. (Admittedly, Dark had a better perspective than most for doing so.) The truth was that Ginny hadn't woken up since she had been bashed into a wall. When he had last seen her, she had been bandaged up properly, and the nurse had dealt with a few scrapes with a wave of her wand, but Ginny had still been unconscious. It worried him that he hadn't seen her open her eyes. And as for the other student… Daisuke didn't like to think of all the things that were his own fault. He didn't like to get other people unnecessarily involved.

_One would think you're turning into Satoshi,_ Dark commented with the same tone as someone inspecting their fingernails.

Daisuke shook his head as he put his hand to the door of his dormitory. _It's not like that. I appreciate Ginny's help. I'd have been caught by Krad without her. But… Hiwatari mentioned that I shouldn't trust anyone here. I was lucky enough that Ginny's actually a friend._ He walked into the darkened room, hearing Ron's voice, and choosing to ignore the half-formed question Dark was about to send his way.

"I really do hope it's Angelina," Ron said, and other voices in the room quietly assented. "I mean, I think she's actually got a good chance, you know. What do you bet she wins over that prig Diggory?"

"I dunno…" Neville said sleepily as Seamus replied with, "Angelina, any day."

"I can't imagine pretty boy Ced—" Dean began with derision.

"Oh, hey Daisuke," Harry called quietly.

"You're dodging the question, Harry," Ron said stubbornly. There was a whistling noise as if something—probably a sock—were being thrown in Harry's direction. Daisuke smiled as he sat down on his bed, and then remembered what he had told himself he'd tell Ron if the other boy were still awake.

"Er, Ron?" he asked cautiously, wriggling out of his shirt and pulling his pajama's out of his bedside drawers as Harry made a disgusted noise and tossed the sock back to its owner.

"What is it?"

"I was, uh, walking back with Ginny and… well… you see…" Daisuke began, wondering exactly how he was going to phrase it. Dark's sudden laughter wasn't helping at all, either. Why was the thief laughing so suddenly, anyway?

"What'd you do to her?" Ron asked with a strangled yelp. Daisuke heard the sound of blankets rustling, and felt bad already for worrying Ron.

"What happened?" Dean asked suddenly, and Daisuke wondered if he was angry for some reason.

"Nothing!" Daisuke replied hurriedly, hoping everyone would calm down. "She just tripped down some stairs earlier, so she's spending the night in the nurse's." He heard a very audible sigh from both Ron and Dean's beds, and did his best to ignore Dark's complaint of ruining the joke too soon. "I just thought… since you're her brother… I'd let you know," he finished lamely, hopping into bed himself. _Worrying people is not a joke, Dark,_ he told his other self seriously, but the purple-eyed thief just waved his thoughts off.

"What a clumsy sister," Ron said, yawning. It sounded like he flopped onto his pillow. Good. He probably wasn't needlessly worrying.

_Unlike you, of course_, Dark added. Daisuke ignored him.

"Is she okay?" asked Dean suddenly.

"Yeah, she'll be alright by morning," he assured the other boy. Wait, weren't Ginny and Dean good friends? So _that's_ why he was so worried about her. He probably spent more time with Ginny than Ron did—at least at school, anyway. Dark snickered. Daisuke continued to ignore the thief, and let his voice carry around the dormitory. "Uh, goodnight."

There was a short chorus of goodnights around the room, and Daisuke rolled over into his pillow, feeling the soft, fluffy down nearly envelop his face. He pulled his comforter up to his ears and exhaled softly. Even if he had been unprepared, he could still call the day a success. Neither he nor Ginny nor anyone else had died or been kidnapped, and Dark had returned. He snuggled deeper into his pillows, feeling a kind of happiness he hadn't felt for a long time.

_You're not going to tell me what you've been up to lately?_ Dark asked, just as Daisuke was nearly asleep. He blinked into the darkness, and then smiled, not caring how late he was going to be staying up.

_Actually, there's a lot I want to talk to you about. About school, and magic, and how well I can speak English._ He felt Dark's approval, and snuggled under the blankets further, thinking back to the beginning.

_One day, I was heading out to school, and I saw an owl…._

* * *

_Wake up, sleepyhead._

Daisuke blinked several times, wincing a little at the bright dawn light streaming through the window. It was already morning?

_Come on, aren't you starving or something? And I bet you're eager to go check on that girl of yours._

Suddenly, Daisuke was instantly awake. With Dark's teasing voice echoing in his mind, the events of the previous day flashed through his brain. Followed by a sudden reddening of his cheeks.

_She's not 'my girl,' Dark!_ If he could have thrown a pillow at the Phantom Thief, he would have. Leave it to Dark to begin making jokes from at the crack of dawn. Ginny was just a friend, he knew, because when he wasn't worrying about Krad, he was thinking of Riku. The way her eyes sparkled and…

_Oh?_ Dark asked devilishly, clearly enjoying himself. _And the way she holds you tight?_ The clever art was merciless, and suddenly, Daisuke remembered he was going to have to be careful.

_Knock it off, Dark! You're going to make us transform!_ Already Daisuke's cheeks were flushed bright red and memories of spending time with Riku were flashing through his brain. He had gotten used to thinking about her when Dark wasn't around, when he didn't have to worry about suddenly giving up control of his body to Dark. And now… maybe it was a good thing he and Riku didn't go to the same school. If she were around, it would probably be impossible to keep Dark a secret from all the wizards and witches at the magical school.

Dark's laughter died down slowly. _Don't worry, Daisuke, we're a team here. I won't be coming out unless we both agree it's a good idea._ His tone became more serious. _Though it looks like you slept in a little bit. You'd better hurry down to breakfast now if you want to check on Ginny and that other kid._

Daisuke nodded, throwing back his covers and rolling out of bed. Indeed, the dormitory was already empty, so he dressed hurriedly and threw his black robes on as he made his way down the stairs to the common room.

The Fat Lady winked at him—at Dark, really—as he exited, and a few minutes later, he was walking past the small crowd surrounding the blue-rimmed Goblet of Fire and into the Great Hall.

It was apparent that someone had really gotten into the Halloween spirit, because the Great Hall was filled with floating jack-o-lanterns and long, tapered candles. The jack-o-lanterns were properly lit from within, with only tiny orange flames occasionally licking out as the pumpkins slowly floated up and down. In the high rafters, small bats—probably enchanted—were fluttering about, casting a festive rather than gloomy air over breakfast. The scarlet and powder blue of the foreign students brightened the usual black at the tables of the various houses, as did the cheerful buzz and hum of everyone talking and eating in easy camaraderie.

_Heh, they try to outdo themselves every year,_ Dark mused lightly.

_Who do?_ Daisuke asked, glancing to the Slytherin table to see if Crabbe had returned. He caught sight of the boy sitting next to the blond head of Draco Malfoy and let out a sigh of relief.

_The staff, you moron,_ Dark replied with a laugh, as if it were obvious.

Daisuke headed towards the Gryffindor table, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. It was _not_ obvious, and now that he thought about it… how did Dark know so much about Hogwarts in the first place? He hadn't seemed at all confused the previous night, and even knew how to use those smoke jars. It seemed as if… Dark knew even more about Hogwarts than he did, and Daisuke had been a student for two months already. How was that even possible? He turned the question over to his alter ego, looking for the most familiar Gryffindor faces and seeing none.

_Two months is nothing to the time I've spent here, Daisuke,_ Dark assured him as he sat down at the table across from some second-years girls who he only saw once a week in History of Magic class.

_What do you mean by that?_ Daisuke helped himself to some scrambled eggs, and wondered what he should bring up to Ginny—assuming she was awake and eating and all that.

_Come on, Daisuke, this is a magical school,_ Dark said with a mocking lilt to his roguish tenor. _Why do you think you're even here?_

This time, Daisuke _did_ roll his eyes. _To study magic, of course. That's obvious, Dark._ Seriously, for someone so clever, why did Dark sometimes seem so rude or dense?

Dark laughed, and even though he was a little annoyed, Daisuke couldn't help liking the sound. It was comforting, in its own way. When the Phantom Thief stopped laughing, he continued his gentle teasing. _So what am I, if not a little bit of magic?_

Daisuke straightened up a little, suddenly realizing that Dark might be trying to get him to consider something important. _Well, you're art, right? Part art, and part…. _Daisuke searched for the right way of putting it. _Part… me?_

_True enough,_ Dark conceded,_ but you wouldn't normally expect a Muggle to understand, would you?_

Daisuke slowly shook his head, not realizing that other people might wonder what he was doing. _I guess not…. So do you mean that you went to Hogwarts when… wait, you were never a kid!_ Daisuke pointed out. He poked at his scrambled eggs. Was this Dark just trying to trick him so he looked stupid? He wouldn't put it past the notorious Phantom Thief.

_No, I wasn't. But… have you ever wondered where your grandfather went to school?_

_What! No way!_ Daisuke responded, dropping a bit of egg back onto his plate in surprise. _Grandpa went to Hogwarts?_

_And not just him,_ Dark continued. _Ever since I was born, all of the Niwa heirs have been students of this school._

_I didn't know this school was that old,_ Daisuke said, finally managing to put the eggs into his mouth. The toast looked good, though, so he'd probably have some next. With jam, of course.

He was surprised by the solemn note in Dark's next words, almost as if he were sighing during the entire sentence. _I guess you could say that I'm a student here, just as much as you are._ Was he just being reflective?

_That's…_ Daisuke began, picking up on Dark's mood,_ nice, isn't it, Dark._

Sometimes, Daisuke wondered how many things Dark really had to call his own, or how many people really knew him. It wasn't as if his name was on any important documents (besides police records, of course). He didn't really have a birthday, or his own apartment. No student ID or passport. So it probably meant a lot to him that he could call himself a student of a particular school.

Or maybe Daisuke was reading too much into it.

"Daisuke," a voice hissed by his ear, snapping him out of his conversation with Dark and making him nearly fall out of his seat.

"G-ginny!" he yelled, realizing halfway through his shout that he was actually very glad to see her, no matter how she had snuck up on him. "You're okay!" he finished, giving her a spontaneous hug.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, sliding into the space next to him. "Just a little woozy if I move too fast, that's all."

Daisuke gave her a worried look. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

She nodded and began piling things on her plate. Her eyes darted to the second-year girls across from them, and then she watched her food as she spoke. Although her tone was nonchalant, Daisuke could tell she was choosing her words carefully.

"I'm sorry for being so clumsy last night. I really didn't expect to see Crabbe lying out there, though. I'm happy you're all right, though." She turned to give him a very precise stare. "I thought for sure I would end up taking you down with me."

_She _is_ pretty cute,_ Dark mentioned casually, causing Daisuke to suddenly face his own plate and splutter.

_Dark! Don't say things like that! Ginny's my friend! You can't date her or anything!_ he insisted vehemently. _Besides, you're distracting me right now._ He returned his focus to Ginny.

"Yeah, I was pretty worried myself. But…" Daisuke began, wondering how to phrase his next line. He looked back at Ginny with a sudden smile. "But a friend helped me out."

She looked surprised, and paused before taking a bit of breakfast. "Who?"

Daisuke shook his head. "You don't know him, but I've talked about him before. Remember my, er, family friend?"

Dark laughed at the description but Ginny only looked confused. "I'm not sure who you're talking about," she confessed, her forehead wrinkling in puzzlement.

"The one who I said has met, er, that guy in white before," he hinted, trying to avoid mentioning both Krad and Dark by name.

Ginny suddenly raised her eyebrows. "Oh, _that_ friend," she said, nodding. She suddenly shook her head. "But how did he get to Hogwarts?"

Daisuke silently asked Dark for that information, and more or less relayed Dark's answer. "He said he followed the guy in white," he told Ginny.

"Fine. Hurry up and eat, Daisuke," Ginny ordered. "I want to talk about this while I'm not trying to focus on a meal."

* * *

"So you see," Daisuke explained, "Dark showed up just in time. And then we ran into the classroom at the end of that hallway, and he pulled out these jars. We had to hold still and hold our breath, but this smoke came out and turned Krad all purple.

"He got away after that, and so then Dark and I took you and Crabbe up to the nurse's office," he finished. He looked over at Ginny, who was staring at him with a skeptical look.

The two were standing in one of the upper hallways, which was otherwise deserted. Outside the windows in front of them, the clouded sky seemed to float slowly by, changing shape ever so slightly as the clouds formed and reformed their patterns of gray and white. Below, the lake appeared as a pool of still, black mirror, reflecting a darker version of the sky.

"Why do I get the feeling like you've skipped over something important?" Ginny asked coolly.

_It's because you have, Daisuke,_ Dark commented dryly.

Daisuke shook his head. "That's what happened, Ginny. I guess I _did_ summarize it, though."

She rolled her eyes and leaned her shoulder against the wall. "So how did Crabbe get there, anyway? We passed him in the hallway, and then he vanished."

"That's because Krad possessed him. He must have taken over his body to control him," Daisuke explained, shivering slightly at the thought. It was exactly what Krad wanted to do to _him_.

Ginny raised her eyebrows, and then seemed to be pondering something. "Though isn't Dark supposed to be just like him or something? Aren't they… what, brothers? Two halves of a whole? The same artwork but… split in half?"

Daisuke could tell she was trying to think back to the conversation they had had during the first week of school. The one where he had explained Dark and Krad… to an extent.

_She's onto you, Daisuke, _Dark teased, his face appearing in the reflection on the window like a ghostly apparition. His purple eyes were filled with mischief. _All she needs to realize now is that it's not Krad and I that are two halves of a whole, but you and me,_ he said, his voice echoing in Daisuke's mind. The thief hadn't changed at all, and was still perfectly okay with letting the whole world know that he was Daisuke's secret identity. Not that Daisuke was going to let that happen. It wasn't as if Daisuke wanted to walk around with a sign saying "I'M THE PHANTOM THIEF" on his forehead. Dark's existence within Daisuke was a secret, and Daisuke intended to keep it that way. He looked away from Dark, and back to Ginny.

"Dark and Krad are completely different. Maybe they were two supposed to be two halves of a whole, but they're two very different halves. It's like all the good parts went into Dark, and all the bad went into Krad," Daisuke stated seriously.

_How sweet of you,_ Dark returned drolly. For some reason, Daisuke had the impression that Dark didn't really believe his statement.

Ginny took a deep breath. "Okay, just checking. But he can 'go into paintings' and all that just like Krad, right?" she asked, searching his expression for confirmation.

Daisuke nodded. "That's how he followed Krad here."

She shook her head and looked down, seemingly deeply troubled by the news. "It's hard to believe that something like that isn't monitored here at Hogwarts," she began slowly, lifting her face back towards Daisuke's. "This place is supposed to be impenetrable, you know. It's like there's a crack in the dam if any of the thousands of paintings here can be used like that. Or more like there's a thousand cracks—one for every painting." She brushed some hair back behind her ear, still looking worried.

Daisuke shrugged. "I guess no one is thinking about things like Krad when setting up defenses."

"We should tell an adult," Ginny said as if she had just decided it.

Daisuke blinked and then blinked again in shock. "W-why would we do that?" he asked loudly.

_I agree,_ Dark said quietly. _And it should be Dumbledore that you talk to._

_That old guy?_ Daisuke asked in complete disbelief. _Are you sure he's not completely crazy? He must be a hundred years old!_

"Because, Daisuke," Ginny responded tartly, "any one of them could help us next time Krad shows up. We don't want to be caught like we were last time—jumping off staircases and dodging feathers without any real plan," she said harshly, putting a hand to the side of her head that had recently met a stone wall.

"But if we do that, we run the risk of talking to the wrong teacher!" Daisuke hissed quietly, squeezing his eyes shut. "Remember, Hiwatari's letter said that there are wizards aiding Krad."

_I'm the only Dark person Dumbledore would allow onto the grounds,_ Dark retorted, his tone getting a little more upset.

"I'm sure that Professor McGonagall isn't working for Krad," Ginny said sternly.

"But would she know who _not_ to talk to?" Daisuke asked. _And do you think the Headmaster did a background check on everyone—student and ghost and guest and whatnot—in the school?_ he replied to Dark angrily, and seemed to actually shut the Phantom Thief up for a moment.

"You think she knows Dark wizards?" Ginny asked humorlessly, folding her arms across her chest. Her gaze was something like accusatory.

"That's not the point," Daisuke said, looking at his hands as if they held a way to appease both Ginny and Dark. "I'm just saying that we can handle this on our own. We don't need to recklessly involve other people." He took a deep breath, and stared out the window right through Dark's handsome face, not realizing that they shared the same inward-seeing expression. He exhaled and dropped his eyes. "Ginny, if you don't want to deal with this stuff anymore, you don't have to. I'll let you know when we've got the Krad thing all under—"

"Don't you _dare,_ Daisuke!" Ginny hissed suddenly, drawing closer to him. Her eyes shone with a fierce determination. She grabbed the front of his robes and made as if to shake him, discarding the idea at the last possible second in favor of just putting her face in his. "I am _not_ abandoning you or chickening out. I just think it would be prudent to let someone know."

Daisuke swallowed at the fire in her eyes, and then nodded slowly. "It… was just an offer. I do appreciate your help." He swallowed again and rearranged his robes as she let him go and folded her arms huffily.

"But with Dark… in touch now, we won't need to involve anyone else. We've already got a competent adult on our side." Daisuke knew he was stretching the meaning of "adult" to describe the philandering Phantom Thief, but to his relief, it seemed to work well enough to placate the girl. She nodded reluctantly, and then looked at her watch, signaling that she was due for meeting up with another friend.

"I'm gonna let it slide for now," Ginny said slowly, turning away and taking a few steps down the hallway. She turned back suddenly and gave him a significant look. "But you should learn to ask for help when you need it."

Daisuke smiled weakly and waved.

In the back of his mind, Dark was brooding quietly, lurking in the back recesses, perhaps turning over Daisuke's words about Hogwarts being infiltrated by Krad's supporters.

* * *

_Dark,_ Daisuke asked later that day while watching the rain slide down one of the library's tall, pointed windows. He was surrounded by his homework for the weekend, and having just finished an essay for Professor Binns, he thought he was due for a short mental break. _I was just thinking… I still don't know what you were doing while I've been at school all this time._

Dark had been spacing out—brooding, really—since Daisuke's conversation with Ginny, and it took a moment for the Phantom Thief to put his mind to Daisuke's implied query.

_I guess I was actually very disoriented for a while, _Dark admitted suddenly. _I didn't really expect to wake up… especially so soon._ Daisuke felt a slight chill course through him, realizing what the first part of Dark's sentence was saying. Dark was supposed to reappear in Daisuke's children, whenever he had them, right? He put the thought away as Dark continued.

_But the really disorienting part was that although Krad and I were both very much awake, we were still confined in the Black Wings. _Dark paused for a moment, and Daisuke felt something very much like a mental tremble course through his other self. _It's not an experience I would want to go through again. It makes me wonder, though, how he… nevermind, Daisuke,_ Dark said abruptly, _it's not really relevant._

_But— _Daisuke tried to interrupt. Dark, however, continued talking right over the top of his protests, forcing Daisuke to shut up and listen. There were some times when Daisuke wasn't really sure how well he knew the Phantom Thief, and it was starting to feel like one of those times. What were all the thoughts Dark was hiding from him? Again, he couldn't linger on a topic as Dark was briskly continuing with his narration.

_Finally, something drew Krad out of the Black Wings, but due to the nature of our artwork, I couldn't tell what was going on outside. I looked for pathways to other geographically close artwork, and found myself in the Berlin Museum of Art. The art there knew something strange was going on, and most of them were too distraught to be coherent. I managed to get some information, however, and I learned that the Black Wings had been kept in the basement, sent there to hide by a Hikari. Satoshi, of course._

Daisuke nodded, and his chin hit the stack of potions books he wanted to get through by Sunday night. He surreptitiously rubbed his chin, feeling like an idiot for spacing out so much while listening to Dark. He could only hope that no one else had been paying attention to him.

_A moment later, I felt Krad's presence vanish. I returned to the Black Wings thinking that he might had been put back to sleep, but it was still empty. Furthermore, I couldn't find a trail through any artwork. It was decidedly fishy. Someone had been looking for Krad, and had probably taken him with them._

_The thing was, I wasn't sure whether this was Krad's intention all along, or not. I wouldn't put it past him to make arrangements before we sealed him away. Who knows the entirety of what he and that Hiwatari guy were doing…. Now that the old man's dead, we have no way of knowing without asking Krad. And _that's_ not going to happen._

_At any rate, I put out word through some trusted art, with the hope that they would be on the alert for Krad and that they could help me find him and track his movements. For a while, I wasn't very lucky. When I did hear about him, I arrived to late to spot him myself. But my source was able to tell me that Krad was looking for you and Satoshi, and was working on some way to kill the two of you. I went to your house as quickly as possible, and learned you had been accepted to Hogwarts, so I settled for sending word. I didn't want to risk visiting you myself in case I was being followed._

_The next thing I heard was that a Hikari was in the Berlin Museum of Art. Again, I arrived just a split second too late to do anything, recognizing Satoshi's presence just as it vanished. But going there wasn't entirely worthless, because I spotted something at the museum, and I was able to piece much of the story together._

_I saw a man with a magic wand. Wizards. I knew then that Krad was, ironically enough, likely to be with wizards of the 'Dark' variety, so I set out to find one of the more infamous houses, hoping that some of the artwork inside would show a trail to other Dark wizard houses. Having been around as long as I have comes in handy when dealing with Dark wizards. They tend to stay in the same house for generations, hoarding their money and their connections to others of 'pure blood,' _Dark explained._ It means that once I managed to find one piece of artwork in one house, I had a good chance of finding pieces linked to it that were in other Dark wizard houses. Furthermore, most of them simply collect art as a symbol of wealth—they don't bother trying to understand what's on their walls at all because they look down on everything that's not a Dark wizard._

_Anyway, I was… really lucky that time. I snagged a trail through Dark wizard houses and snooped around, finding myself right in front of Satoshi. We managed to escape, as he told you in his letter, and then I went to head off any of Krad's allies, as well as find out more about Krad's whereabouts. Even though I was technically in the house where he was staying when he captured Satoshi, I still have no idea where the house is geographically. _Dark sounded quite frustrated about it.

_I was still searching when the Louvre went crazy. _Dark gave a low whistle. _I've honestly never seen anything like it, Daisuke. The art in the world is choosing sides, Daisuke, and the first battle took place there._

_Nike of Samothrace told me how it started. For some reason, Satoshi had been in the museum, with the twins. Such a stupid, stupid idea,_ Dark said vehemently, and Daisuke nearly flinched. _Some of Krad's supporters noticed him, and then all hell broke loose. Krad himself arrived on the scene and possessed other art in order to get at him. Satoshi and the twins were apparently chased all around the museum until Satoshi painted them an exit._

_No one knows where they are right now, _Dark said, causing Daisuke's heart to skip a painful beat,_ which is probably a good thing._

_How is that a good thing?! _Daisuke cried in worry. Dark didn't know where they were? What if something had happened…. Riku….

_It means that Krad and his people don't know where they are, either,_ Dark returned harshly. _Stop complaining, Daisuke. Satoshi and those two are a lot more resourceful than that. I'm sure they're all fine._

Daisuke nodded weakly, and then laid his head down on his potions textbook. It was still horrible to think that he didn't know where Riku was, or what she was doing.

_Krad got away as soon as he realized that Satoshi had left the area, but his supporters kept fighting. I ended up in the thick of things, helping Nike subdue all the statues of Cupid. She's one hell of a woman, I'll give her that,_ Dark said with obvious affection as well as admiration. _By then, the wizarding authorities had arrived and were trying to get everything back in order._

_Wizarding authorities? _Daisuke echoed without any comprehension.

_Some wizards get paid to keep Muggles from finding out about magic. They do a lot of Memory Charms and repairing things. From what I could tell, they had to ask for foreign help because nothing on this scale has ever happened before. Although the museum had emptied of people by the time I got there, and a crowd was starting to form outside it and lots of people were frightened._

_Imagine every single work of art in that museum moving around and going to war. That's what it was._

Daisuke swallowed, rolling his forehead to his book so he was more or less face down on it. _That sounds pretty scary,_ he agreed.

_I had to get away before the wizards noticed me and tried to put me back into the Black Wings, so Nike and I parted ways. She promised she'd do her best to keep me informed on the situation among the art, as she has replicas all around the world, but… I'm worried that the peace in the Lourve isn't going to last._

Daisuke could tell that Dark was very worried. But if things were so bad like that, why was it that all of the paintings at Hogwarts seemed to be perfectly fine?

_All of the artwork here is kind, Daisuke. They're on our side. That's why I managed to hear about Krad's infiltration of Hogwarts pretty quickly. The art in this castle not only fought him off for a while, but also got in touch with me about it very rapidly. We all hoped that the art here would be able to hold him off until I could arrive, but… apparently Krad's gotten good at climbing out of frames and into people's bodies._ At this, Dark wasn't the only one to shudder._ It's a good thing I got to you when I did._

Dark was silent for a long time, and the silence was ominous. _He nearly had you, Daisuke,_ Dark said slowly.

Daisuke smiled weakly onto the cover of his book. _I know._

_No, Daisuke, you don't. _Dark said sternly. _Think about it. Krad has abilities just like me. All he had to do was _touch_ you, and you'd be in the same boat Satoshi was in last year._

Daisuke swallowed suddenly and sat up straight, raising a hand to touch his throat gently. Krad _had_ touched him. Would Daisuke really have been able to fight off Krad if the evil half of the Black Wings had attempted to take the place of his beloved Dark?

_It's no use worrying about it now, though. He can't get inside you as long as I'm here._

Daisuke calmed down considerably, but still felt slightly shaken. All of the news Dark had given him was alarming. Riku, Risa, and Hiwatari's disappearance, the art world being at war, and the entirely too close encounter with Krad. Daisuke he had thought that he'd been relatively successful until Dark came along. But apparently not. There were things that Dark had been fighting against the entire time that Daisuke hadn't even guessed at. Furthermore, it wasn't that Krad had underestimated Daisuke in their fight. Rather it was that Krad had underestimated _Dark_—his speed and his knowledge of Daisuke's whereabouts.

It was slightly disappointing to realize that.

_Though now that I'm here, it puts me at something of a disadvantage, _Dark mused thoughtfully.

_Thanks,_ Daisuke replied sourly. Was he really so useless in the fight against Krad? So useless that even Dark would admit it? It was suddenly very upsetting to think that even Dark didn't believe in him.

_Hey, that's not what I meant, _Dark replied, probably inferring the reason for Daisuke's bitter retort. _It's just… I think I'm stuck with you for a while, Daisuke. Which means I can't go out and find where Krad is staying._

_What do you mean?_

He could sense the smirk in the thief's voice, and it lifted his spirits. _We're not so easily parted as Krad and his lackeys,_ Dark asserted confidently. _I don't think I can just ease back into a nearby painting._ _I guess it looks like whatever we have to face, we'll face it together._

_That's… as it should be, right? _Daisuke asked softly.

_As it should be, Daisuke._

* * *

Unfortunately, Daisuke did not get much studying done. Although his conversation with Dark hadn't actually lasted too long, he had been relatively unable to focus, and Lavender and Parvati had arrived in the library only an hour later. And although the two girls had been very helpful in getting him through his Divination homework, he had ended up lugging his potions books back up to his dormitory without actually opening any of them.

Then again, it was much more exciting to put homework (and Krad) out of his mind, and think about dinner, when the champions for the Triwizard Tournament would be chosen.

Lavender brought up the subject on their way to the Great Hall. "I wouldn't mind _so_ much if it were Ced—"

"No," Parvati said, rolling here eyes and cutting off Lavender as she stepped onto the staircase and began walking down. "I really do think it'll be a Gryffindor. We've got Angelina, you know?"

"Better her than that Slytherin," Lavender said with a wince. Her friend nodded.

"I don't really care who it is," Daisuke announced with his usual honesty. "I'm just looking forward to watching the tournament." Again, Daisuke wondered if he would be allowed to invite his parents to watch. Given the situation with Krad, it might be best if his entire family got out of the house for a bit.

Parvati gave him a smile and linked her arm through his as they descended the last stair. "Well, of course!" she laughed. "We'll cheer on the Hogwarts champion no matter who it is, won't we, Daisuke."

* * *

_Author's note: Bwahahaha, double entendres. Dark's line: "He can't get inside you as long as I'm here." Dark Mousy, you're such a seme~! *fangirls* Not that this story contains yaoi, or that it wouldn't be horribly awkward for… yeah, not even going there. -_-;_

_Anyway, as usual, please review! Also, if anyone ever wants to know what's going on and what's going to be updated and when, check my profile. I try to update it when I change moods, so do check it if all you want to know is "when is the next update?" Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed!_


	20. Chapter 20

**Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief**

**Chapter 20**

* * *

Satoshi tumbled through the doorway with the twins yelping as they tripped over him. The landing was cold and painful, knocking the wind out of his already breathless lungs. A moment later, the canvas clattered to the floor beside them, smearing the still-wet black and brown paint he had used to get them to their destination.

He gasped in air as Risa rolled off him. He lifted his head carefully, checking their surroundings.

Boys dressed in scarlet uniforms stared down at them with a variety of expressions. The most common one, however, was annoyance. One boy stepped forward, the toe of his boot landing uncomfortably close to Satoshi's nose as he tried to gasp in air to reinflate his lungs. With a dull sense of dread, he wondered if they had accidentally escaped to the dark lair of a secret cult, or a training facility for spies. It would be his luck to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Satoshi blinked in confusion as the boy started speaking, gesturing towards the door in exasperation. Was that language… _Russian?_

"We're sorry," Risa's voice shot out in curt German as the boy picked up the canvas Satoshi had used and pointed at it as if the three on the floor were complete idiots, "but my sister's hurt, so would you mind pointing us to a hospital?" She stood slowly, leaning forward to help Riku to her feet.

"Who are you?" a voice called out in German from the back of the room as the rest of the class broke out into a buzz of whispers.

"What are girls doing here?"

"Who's that kid?"

"Are you even a student?"

Satoshi lifted himself off the floor slowly, and then searched for the source of the last voice, sliding his glasses up his nose as he did so. He had a feeling that the boy was directing his speech towards Satoshi rather than the twins. So this was a school of some sort? It could still very well be a training facility for spies or secret agents, though. Some kind of military establishment might favor only boys, and dress them in blood-red uniforms.

The door suddenly swung open behind them, and a man nearly bowled into the barely-standing Riku. The man was fairly tall and somewhat grizzly, with plenty of graying facial hair. Oddly bright grey eyes shone from his dark sockets, and he blinked curiously at the twins. After a moment where Risa glared back and Riku simply looked sick, the man's eyes took in Satoshi as well.

He addressed them first in Russian, but halfway through his sentence, Satoshi interrupted.

"We can't understand you," he cut in, using German.

The man bobbed his head, and then said something over their heads to the class of scarlet-clad students. The boys rolled their eyes and murmured and reluctantly sat down in their desks, pulling out parchment and long, feathered quills.

A few moments later, the man ushered the three interlopers outside the door. Satoshi swiped the canvas from the floor, using a sleeve to smear the wet paint around further and make sure that Krad was unable to follow them. His hands were still trembling from the ordeal in the Louvre, and he had no desire to repeat it.

"Please, sir, my sister's hurt. She needs to see a doctor," Risa said insistently as she supported Riku in the hallway. The corridor's ceiling was lower than necessary, and the floor was smoother towards the center, giving the impression they were seeing just a small part of some giant and ancient building.

The man took one look at the elder Harada and nodded. "Come, we go together to the nurse office," the man said in somewhat clipped but comprehensible German. He gestured forward with his hand. "We make one stop on the way," he continued, nodding back towards them as they made a left turn down another hallway. In front of them were stairs. Satoshi wanted to curse.

The jolt of adrenaline was leaving his system now that Krad wasn't directly on their heels, and he was beginning to feel a little shaky. He was beginning to feel his wounds as well. Particularly the gash that Krad-as-Cupid had given his thigh. Although it was shallow and had mostly stopped bleeding, he could feel his pants, with drying blood caked on the edges of the torn fabric, brush across the slash with every step. His arm had a small trickle of sticky blood from his self-inflicted cut towards his palm. When he glanced down, he could see the lines of his palm traced with blackening blood.

He was, however, more worried about Riku. She had remained pale and shaky since Krad had clubbed her with Childebert's scepter. The bruise on her arm where the scepter had connected was more than a bluish spot. Her upper arm was swollen unnaturally, the deep purple skin so stretched and tight that it looked oddly shiny. He swallowed as they followed the man up the staircase. Riku's arm was probably broken. Sweat matted her short hair to her neck and brow, and darkened a line along her spine. If he knew a way to carry her that would get her to the nurse's faster, he would have done so. But Risa supporting her would have to do for now.

At the top of the narrow staircase, the man leading them paused to knock on a black-hinged wooden door, much like the one Satoshi had painted. A few moments later, Satoshi heard a muffled voice from within, and their escort bade them wait in the hallway while he disappeared into the room.

"How long does he expect we're going to just stand here?" Risa hissed in an angry whisper. She maneuvered herself under her sister's shoulder a bit better.

"Don't get angry, Risa," Riku said weakly. "They said they'd help us, right?"

Risa rolled her eyes. "You're delirious from your injuries," she told her sister matter-of-factly. "You don't know what you're saying."

Satoshi shook his head. "I think it's more likely that Riku is right. I have a feeling this isn't a normal school."

But before he could elaborate, the door burst open and two men began appraising them levelly. The one from before stood back a pace, allowing a smaller, bookish man peer at them from over a rather long nose.

"First things first, children: What brings you to Durmstrang Institute?"

Satoshi swallowed, and adjusted his glasses to buy some time as he searched his memory for any knowledge of the institute. It certainly sounded like some kind of German school, but from what he had heard among the students, classes were taught in a Slavic language.

"We're Hogwarts students!" Riku cried suddenly, and Satoshi wondered if Risa hadn't been more right than he'd thought. She was beginning to sound delirious after all.

But the look that crossed the small man's face was one of recognition, so Satoshi kept quiet. "So I shall ask again. What brings you to Durmstrang Institute?" he asked crossly. It sounded like he didn't necessarily approve of the connection to Daisuke's school, but was more wary of it than simply hateful. Perhaps… Daisuke's magical school could protect them.

"We were doing a magic spell," Risa began suddenly, "and something went wrong. We're not sure what," she lied rapidly. "Please, my sister's hurt!" she cried, glancing at Riku and hoping to earn some quick pity points.

Satoshi nodded, playing along with the information he had gleaned from Daisuke's letters. "We were practicing for Charms class, and the next thing we knew…." He shook his head as if utterly confused. The more vague he was, the more likely the man would fill in the blanks with his own imagination—and thus make their story more believable.

"I think I said the incantation wrong," Risa confessed, tearing up.

"We… don't even have our wands with us," Satoshi finished glumly. He sighed pathetically. "I hope Headmaster Dumbledore isn't worried about us…" he said, hoping that throwing in a name would convince the man that they were who they said they were. He remembered the letter he had received so long ago, inviting him to the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry….

The man nodded very abruptly. "Well," he replied in a much less threatening tone, his expression turning from wary to somewhat hurried. He shooed the first man away with a flapping shake of his arm, and gestured for the three children to gather closer. Satoshi was surprised at how well the name actually worked. It seemed as if it had more power than the school itself. "If that's the case, we'll contact him right away so he doesn't have to worry, and you three can get back to school." The man turned suddenly, calling out, "If you'll just follow me…."

"Sir!" Risa barked suddenly, startling Satoshi. The man in front of them also jumped, and whirled back around. Satoshi took a step back, looking between the twins and the man as Risa glared him down. "I think I mentioned that my sister is hurt. Before we go anywhere, we're getting her some help."

Satoshi gasped as Riku's eyelids suddenly fluttered, and Risa struggled under her weight.

The man hurried over. "Right, the nurse's office. It's this way," he said, pulling a thin, black wand from his pocket. He turned it gently towards Riku, and calmly incanted a short spell. _"Levicorpus."_

A moment later, Riku was smoothly lifted into the air, floating down the hall as the man guided them towards the nurse's office.

* * *

After getting patched up with a flick of a wand and an oddly sweet-smelling tonic from a stout, no-nonsense, Russian nurse, Satoshi was feeling significantly better. Riku was still sleeping after drinking something she had nearly gagged on as the nurse had poured it down her throat, and the nurse returned to her side to cast some kind of healing spell over her every four minutes or so. Out of the three of them, Risa seemed to be doing the best. She had, after all, received only a few small scrapes and minor bruises.

Satoshi swung his legs off his cot and walked over to peer at Riku with the younger Harada at his side.

"Magic is pretty amazing, huh," Risa said quietly, her eyes on her twin.

Satoshi nodded. All of his and Risa's injuries had already been healed, and the nurse had even patched up the hole in his pant leg. Only Riku's arm—which had been broken after all—was still healing. It looked like she had a fever yet, but the swelling had been reduced within seconds of drinking the potion the nurse had given her.

"That man seemed to want us to reassure Daisuke's Headmaster that we're alright." Satoshi kept his voice even and low, as if he were simply making notes on Riku's condition. The nurse was still in the room, and although she didn't speak German, it wouldn't do for her to suspect he and Risa of plotting.

Risa was a smart girl. She caught on quickly, and leaned over to fiddle with Riku's blankets. "It'll be difficult to convince him that we're students of his own school."

Satoshi dropped his eyes to the floor as his mind flew backwards into the past, to the old London apartment and the dust-covered letter. "We might have a chance if—"

He cut himself short when the door suddenly swung open. The man who had brought them to the nurse's office had returned, and was striding towards them. It was too late to make any plans, and they were back to just winging it and hoping they could survive.

Satoshi tried not to let out a frustrated sigh. When was his life going to return to normal? Not that he had ever been quite as normal as an average child, but he hoped that at some point, he'd at least be able to stop wishing for feather-spotting eyes in the back of his head and stop wracking his brain for the most convenient lies to stay one step ahead of his enemies. Satoshi took a breath, flushing his emotions and frustrations from his mind, and turned to the man with a well-schooled, pleasant expression.

"Ah, she is still not awake?" the man asked, nodding towards Riku.

Risa nodded. "Can we stay here until she wakes up and is all better?" she asked, using her best puppy-dog eyes and whimpering voice.

The man faltered. "I, uh, well, yes, why don't you stay with her," he said, and Satoshi felt a wave of relief. It was, however, short-lived as the man turned to face him directly. "It would really only require one of you," he continued encouragingly.

Satoshi nodded, and followed the man out the door without looking back.

"I've forgotten to introduce myself, haven't I," the man said as the door swung shut behind them. He turned to face Satoshi in the hallway, holding out a thin, pale hand. "I am Frederick von Diefendorf, the Deputy Headmaster."

"Satoshi… Hiwatari," he replied, deciding it would be best to use the name he hadn't been born with. If anyone at this school was a friend to the white angel, they would be looking for a Hikari. The man nodded and shook his hand without noticing the pause.

"Your Headmaster should be expecting us at any moment, so we should hurry," he said, turning and continuing down the stone hallway. Through the narrow windows, Satoshi could see glimpses of stunted trees and scrubby bushes scattered across a hillside. It descended into a narrow, rocky valley cut by a swift river. Beyond that, the view spread into a mass of dimly lit snowy peaks. Wisps of clouds and fog swirled around the mountains, proving that there was indeed a strong wind outside. But inside, the castle's hallway was deserted except for himself and Diefendorf, making the echoing of their footsteps seem even louder.

After descending a flight of well-worn stairs, they arrived at the same door from whence Diefendorf originally came. He held the door open for Satoshi, and then closed it behind them. "Please, have a seat, there," he said, gesturing towards a pair of leather armchairs seated in front of a small fire. There was a desk at the far end of the room, facing away from the widest window he had yet seen in the castle. Old-looking books were squished together on the rows of shelves lining the walls, and along the front of the desk. There were two framed canvases on the wall. One was empty, and the other held an elderly woman who was dozing. The room itself looked relatively safe.

Satoshi eased himself into the seat Diefendorf had offered, feeling the slight chill of the stone corridors leave his feet and legs. As Diefendorf sat in the other chair, he called to no one in particular in astonishingly accurate English. "Ready when you are, Professor Dumbledore."

There was a slight pause as Diefendorf settled himself deeper into his chair, and then…

Satoshi's eyes widened in alarm as the fireplace suddenly filled with churning flames. He tucked his feet in closer to the chair, and then realized that although the fire was certainly brighter and the flames were taller… it wasn't actually any warmer than before. He peered cautiously at the flames, and abruptly, the flames bent and folded and wrapped themselves around each other until they formed a face.

It was a face with a very long beard, half moon glasses resting on the edge of a nose, and warm crinkles around the eyes. The forehead creased suddenly, and then the fire-face appeared to smile.

"Ah, Professor Diefendorf, how good it is to see you again," the fire crackled merrily. Satoshi smoothed his features and remained calm. If he were a Hogwarts student, this would seem natural. Then again, this face—it was undoubtedly the Headmaster of Hogwarts—belonged to someone who would know he had nearly no experience with magic.

"Professor Dumbledore, I trust you are well?" Diefendorf replied graciously. His tone was nearing supercilious, and it was easy to see that if Satoshi could only convince Headmaster Dumbledore to take them to Daisuke, Deifendorf would accept it. Satoshi was glad that English was one of his native languages, so that he didn't have difficulties following the conversation. That could only have made his task more difficult.

"Yes, very much so. We'll be choosing our champions tonight, actually." The fire chuckled slightly, and then leaned forward, the top of the fiery cap licking at the edge of the fireplace. "Now, what is this urgent situation that you must speak to me about?"

Satoshi willed himself to play the part as Diefendorf gestured to him, even as he felt a cold wave of anxiety rush over him. "As you can see, I have found your students. There are three of them here, but two are still in the nurse's office." Diefendorf shook his head in a way that suggested chastisement. "Perhaps you had better look into what your Charms teacher is doing to your students," he continued. "Perhaps they are being pushed too hard."

Satoshi swallowed as the fiery face turned to him, the eyes dancing with a warm light. "It's me, Satoshi," he said, his voice sounding almost surprisingly normal despite his throat feeling uncomfortably dry. He took a deep breath, and hoped the man in the fireplace wasn't entirely dense. He was betting on the fact that the man was charmed with the ability to read between the lines. "I'm sorry it's taken so long to contact you," Satoshi said carefully, the firelight bouncing off his pale cheeks. "But it's better late than never, right?" The fire eyed him with close attention, meaning that Satoshi had better keep his explanation going. It seemed as if he wanted more information before he decided to aid or abandon Satoshi. But at least the possibility of aid existed. If Dumbledore was willing to play along with him in order to fool Diefendorf and allow him to finally get to the magical school….

Well, certainly the acceptance letter _had_ implied that Satoshi was to be treated as more than an ordinary student. _"In fact, due to your unique talents and undoubtedly sharp intellect, I would suggest that you take an early train to Hogwarts…"_ What it all amounted to was that Satoshi really only had to make Dumbledore remember why he wanted Satoshi so much. Without letting Diefendorf catch on to his true meaning, of course.

"I'm sorry about all of this hassle," he continued, his voice placing even stress across his words, "but I suppose it's simply my 'unique talents' coming to bear." The orange flames creased at the face's brow when Satoshi quoted his letter. Satoshi repressed a smile. So he was indeed as valuable as he thought. Now he had to extend his value to include that of the twins. He wasn't going to Hogwarts without them, and it was imperative that he got that across to the Headmaster. "Though if it hadn't been for the twins, things would have been even more difficult." This time, the face in the fire nodded thoughtfully. "I don't know what I'd do without—"

"Yes, yes," the fire sizzled, cutting off Satoshi's next hidden message. Dumbledore turned towards Diefendorf. "Would you perhaps be so kind as to send the children back to school? I believe you should already know the whereabouts of the castle, as I gave directions to Professor Karkaroff the first Tuesday of the month."

Diefendorf nodded, completely unaware of the coded conversation that had just taken place. "Perhaps a portkey would be the best means of travel?"

Dumbledore bobbed his head in response, a wisp of smoke curling around his features. The man seemed, for all the world, entirely carefree, as if he were simply taking care of mundane business. "Send them to the front gate, if you please." Sparks danced along his eyes. "Tomorrow morning might be most suitable, to see that they get plenty of sleep to recover. Wouldn't you agree?"

Again, Diefendorf nodded. What else would the man do? The Hogwarts Headmaster had him in the palm of his hand, without him even realizing it. Satoshi found himself very glad that Dumbledore had interests that coincided with his own. To put himself against such a formidable man would be… trying, to say the least. "We can house them temporarily in the rooms left vacant by our champions," the Durmstrang Deputy Headmaster assured them.

"Very good then." Dumbledore's fiery features turned back towards his false student. "I'll need a full explanation of what happened tomorrow morning, Satoshi. But until then, try to stay out of trouble." The expression was kindly, but there was an underlying tension to the words.

Satoshi held himself still, letting the words and the tone sink in a little. How much did Dumbledore know already? Was he aware of Krad—or worse yet, an associate of Krad's? Did he know about Satoshi's link to Daisuke? Knowledge was power, and Satoshi wasn't willing to get rid of his upper hand, especially to someone who seemed very keen to indoctrinate him into some kind of specialized school. He would have to consider what he would tell the man, and what he would keep to himself. Though… for the time being, Satoshi would have to pretend to accept the Headmaster at face value.

"Of course, Headmaster," he answered smoothly.

As the fire died down and the reassured Diefendorf escorted him back towards the nurse's room, Satoshi felt more relief than anything else. He had secured their safety, as well as safe passage to Daisuke. He could, for at least a little while, relax.

* * *

Satoshi and Risa sat on the edges of their hospital beds, leaning their heads together to talk quietly while the nurse was away. It was getting later in the afternoon, and the mist outside must have cleared somewhat, because long golden columns of light sank through the high windows above the row of hospital cots. The beds themselves were still only lit by the fluorescent lighting above, but the floor towards the center of the room was broken up into thin rectangles of light.

"That's really a relief," Risa said in response to Satoshi's update on their situation, sighing quietly. She brushed a long strand of brown hair behind her ear, and then looked back over her shoulder at Riku, who was still sleeping on the bed behind her. She sighed again and shook her head, probably telling herself to stop worrying so much.

Satoshi let his eyes rest on the floor at his feet. "It'll be good to see Daisuke face to face," he said firmly. He glanced up for a moment as Risa nodded.

"That way, we can all work together," she added.

Satoshi was quiet. He had meant that it would be good for him to be able to keep an eye on Daisuke—the other boy had a knack for being a little reckless and far too trusting—but if Risa wanted to interpret his sentence a different way, it didn't really matter. Working with Daisuke was a lot like looking out for him, anyway.

"The Headmaster…" Satoshi began slowly. "It's still difficult to say whether we can trust him. Our problems may not be over yet." Satoshi knew very little about the man he had seen in the fireplace, other than he was Headmaster of a magical school, very powerful, and possessor of a keen eye that didn't miss details. Satoshi didn't know exactly why Dumbledore considered him so valuable, other than his "unique talents," which was still a rather vague term.

Risa nodded slowly, apparently turning his words over in her mind. "Daisuke should know more about him, though," she surmised. "After all, he's Daisuke's Headmaster, right?"

Satoshi took a deep breath. "Not necessarily. Daisuke's the kind of person who trusts implicitly," he explained.

"Well, how do you know we can't trust his Headmaster?" Risa countered testily. "You just don't like trusting people, period. Maybe we should look at this by considering that you even _thinking_ of trusting him. And maybe that means that he's actually quite trustworthy." She folded her arms across her chest while Satoshi sat there and blinked at her.

"Do you understand the situation we're in?" he asked calmly, hiding his disbelief at her attitude.

She nodded resolutely, and then dropped her hands to her lap, hanging her head so that her brown bangs hid her eyes. "Look, I know we're in a lot of trouble right now. We had to flee two countries now because of Krad. No one here wants or even really likes us. We lost Wiz, so we can't contact Daisuke. We barely managed to survive the Lourve, and my family's probably calling the police to search for us. Riku's still sleeping off her injuries. To top it off, while we wait here, Krad could be on his way to get us." Risa faltered in her depressing list for a moment, and threw up her hands, giving Satoshi a hard stare. "So, yeah, I think I understand our situation. We've got one person in this whole mess who's willing to help us. Sure, we don't have to trust him. But I'm certainly not going to show him any disrespect." She massaged her temples in apparent frustration.

Satoshi remained quiet for a moment. Hearing the list of their recent exploits was indeed depressing. And to think that for a while, he had been considering the Louvre to be a success. But… running away with their lives barely intact was _not_ a success. Winning against Krad would be a success. There had to be some way they could turn the tables on the awful artwork.

Riku's blankets rustled, and in the quiet of the nurse's office, the sound nearly echoed. Risa turned towards her sister, all frustration gone as her expression turned to hope. "Riku?" she queried hesitantly.

"Mmm." The blankets rustled some more, and then the elder twin sat up slowly, blinking groggily and rubbing at her eyes with her left hand.

"Riku! You're alright!" Risa cried, climbing over her cot and then clambering onto her sister's. "How are you?"

"Sleepy," she replied, unsuccessfully stifling a yawn. "Whatever they gave me really knocked me out. What time is it?"

Satoshi checked his watch. "Just after five," he told her, walking to the foot of her bed. "How's your arm?"

Riku gingerly rotated her right shoulder, wincing a little as she first rolled it, and then turning it more robustly. "It's… not too bad, considering."

"Does it hurt?" Risa asked, her voice full of sympathy.

"Not enough to stop me," the redhead said, giving a slight snort. She looked around the room and then back and forth between her two comrades, clenching and unclenching her fist slowly to keep the blood circulating. "So, what's going on, anyway?"

Before Satoshi could open his mouth, Risa was halfway through her first sentence.

"We tricked them into thinking we're Hogwarts students, and Satoshi convinced the Hogwarts Headmaster to let us in. We'll be dropped off at Daisuke's school tomorrow morning," she explained quickly. Satoshi was slightly impressed at her succinct summarization.

"Well, okay." Riku paused for a moment, and it was clear to Satoshi that she was still feeling a little woozy. "So, for tonight, we're…?"

"We're staying here," Satoshi informed her. "They're allowing us to use a vacant room." Riku nodded at him in understanding.

"So we're safe now," Risa told her sister, squeezing her hand.

Riku rolled her eyes. "Yeah, until you-know-who comes looking," she retorted.

Risa hesitated, looking worried, while Satoshi drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"In which case the nurse can force some of that stuff down _his_ throat," Riku continued with a dry laugh. "It'll put him right to sleep _and_ it tastes awful!" She shuddered and made a completely disgusted face, making her sister laugh.

Satoshi had to admit that Riku's comment was funny, if only in that odd laugh-because-if-you-don't-you'll-cry kind of way. But somehow it seemed to ease the tension that had been building up since their arrival at Durmstrang Institute. A few minutes later, Risa was panting for breath on the floor, leaning against Riku's bedframe, and her sister was doubled over with her legs still under the starchy sheets. Even Satoshi was smiling, though he wasn't wiping away tears of mirth like the twins. They hardly even noticed when the door opened and Diefendorf came to escort them to dinner.

* * *

As the only females under thirty-five in the entire castle, the twins were the center of attention at dinner. Riku complained of the attention, but Risa was thriving on it. She tossed her long hair and batted her lashes, drawing quite the crowd.

"Risa is… very fine name," a boy probably two years older than her commented in stilted German. She smiled and leaned across the table towards him.

"Thank you," she crooned, before turning back to a German-speaking blond who had taken the seat on her right. He was holding up a fork towards her mouth, and forcing a light blush across her cheeks.

Satoshi smiled inwardly. It was funny, really, how Risa was so adept at manipulating the boys around her, yet if they attempted the same to her, she was absolutely powerless. On Risa's left, her sister rolled her eyes, and then caught Satoshi's.

"Why is my sister such a flirt?" she hissed, leaning over her plate. Satoshi gave her a bemused shrug in reply, and looked down at his own meal. It was a large portion of lasagna filled with gooey cheese, chunky sauce, and ground-up meat. Rather hearty, but probably good for such a chilly climate. He took a bite, letting his eyes roam silently around the room as he chewed.

The hall seemed to be decked out in classic castle cheer, meaning that there was hardly any cheer to be found. The ceiling loomed overhead with tall gothic spires disappearing into the darkness above. Large chandeliers, made from what were perhaps caribou horns, hung on thick black chains. It didn't seem as if the light from the hundreds of flickering candles would light up the enormous room, yet they somehow reached into the corners. Satoshi suspected magic was the cause.

At one end of the dining room, people were seated at a long table on a raised platform. They were, judging by their age and the inclusion of Diefendorf, the faculty. The largest chair at the center of the table was suspiciously empty.

All of the students were seated at the two tables that took up the rest of the room. Satoshi had to admire the craftsmanship, however, when looking at the dark, stained wood that had been carefully bent so that rather than a long, rectangular table, it was a half-circle. The table like it curved the same way, so that when the two were placed together, they formed a complete circle. But, when the two tables were placed a meter or so apart as they currently were, it left room for students to sit at either the inner or outer side as they pleased. Quite a practical and aesthetically-pleasing design.

Satoshi cut his lasagna with the side of his fork, looking round at the students for a while. The institute appeared to be a mix of junior high and high school, though of course he could consider it unusual for more than that. And although he had thought the scarlet uniforms to be a little jarring to the senses at first, the bright color helped freshen up the dreary stone of the castle. Though it was strange, but not entirely unappealing, to sit in a room full of other boys.

Or at least, it was _mostly_ filled with boys. Besides the twins, there were two female faculty members, and then there were the… things. Satoshi swallowed his lasagna, unsure of what to call the other beings in the room.

Small, elf-like creatures with enormous eyes scurried along the walls, dressed in tiny towels and handkerchiefs, carrying pitchers of juice and salad bowls. Here and there two shared the load of a fresh pan of lasagna as other carried away the emptying dishes. Apparently, they were the serving staff, but other than that, Satoshi had no idea.

He decided to ignore them like the rest of the scarlet-clad student body, and finish his lasagna.

"So, you're a Hogwarts student?"

Someone was speaking English to him. The accent was slightly Slavic. Satoshi blinked and looked to his left as a blond boy sat next to him. His pale gray eyes were rather beautiful, in a haunted sort of way. Satoshi nodded, but didn't slide away to offer the boy any elbow room.

"I am Vladmir," the boy said, holding out a hand. Satoshi shook it, swallowing his bite of cheesy pasta before he responded.

"Satoshi." He paused a moment, and then plunged into conversation, as the boy seemed to be expecting it. Part of what was keeping him alive was his ability to pretend to be a normal student. "You have a very nice school, here. I… like your uniforms."

Vladmir smiled, and Satoshi suddenly wondered if the smile was a little _too_ knowing. Or perhaps Satoshi was simply on edge after the long day. "Thank you," the boy replied easily. He took a sip from his glass, and from the aroma, Satoshi knew he wasn't drinking cranberry juice. It was safe to guess that Vladmir was at least sixteen. Was the novelty of a foreign student so enticing? "What are the uniforms at your school like?"

Satoshi ignored his inner musings and responded as best he could. In truth, he probably could make anything up, and pretty Vladmir wouldn't know the difference. "Blue," Satoshi answered, picturing Azumano's uniform in navy. "Though in warm weather, the shirts are white."

Vladmir nodded, and Satoshi smiled inwardly. Nothing like an easy lie pulled off so very well. "It must be nice to have girls at your school," his new companion continued a little wistfully.

Satoshi smiled in an indulgent fashion. "They can be quite the distraction," he said dryly.

"You don't say," Vladmir said, his grin growing wider. He leaned in, and Satoshi fought the urge to lean away. "Would you say that your school is bigger than ours?"

Satoshi made a show of craning his head around to peer at all the students and up towards the staff table. "I think they're about the same," he lied.

Unfortunately, Vladmir didn't lean back after getting his question answered. "Then… what sorts of classes do you take?" he asked, brushing strands of his pale blond hair back from his temple.

"The usual," Satoshi answered smoothly. "I'm not very good at charms, though." He hoped his change of subject worked.

"Ah really?" he asked, raising his eyebrows gracefully. "I'd've thought you'd be good at it."

At that, Satoshi raised his own eyebrows, causing the taller boy to shrug. "You just seem like the type that's good at mostly everything."

Satoshi repressed a smirk. Apparently Vladmir _did_ have a good eye for things. He shook his head, faking modesty. "Ah, no. I'm really only any good at art," he said quietly, turning back to his dinner.

"Visual or performing?" Vladmir asked quickly, surprising Satoshi with the question. His grey eyes were suddenly on the verge of piercing.

"The visual arts," he answered, trying to keep the testiness out of his voice. What, did the boy think he could sing and dance? Or that he had considered his part in his class's _Ice and Dark_ to be anything less than ridiculous?

"Rats," Vladmir said with a hint of a laugh, finally leaning back so he was giving Satoshi his personal space back. "And I was hoping you might be a fellow musician."

"It seems you were hoping in vain," Satoshi responded with a tight-lipped smile. It had the opposite effect of what he had intended, as Vladmir thought he was trying for some kind of joke rather than a sarcastic comment.

He took another bite of lasagna while Vladmir laughed good-naturedly, hoping to end the conversation. He glanced across the table at Riku, who was nudging the elbow of the boy next to her. It was obvious the boy had been inching closer to her throughout the meal.

Fortunately, Vladmir followed Satoshi's eyes and directed his attention towards the red-haired girl, leaving Satoshi to eat in silence without having to play along with the older boy's questions.

Satoshi rolled his eyes and smiled to himself as the blond began smirking and making eyes at Riku. Riku, of course, was having none of it. She returned his flattery by pressing her palms to the table and heaving an enormous sigh.

"That's _it!_" she declared, nostrils flaring. Everyone around her, Risa included, jumped back in surprise. "I would like to say that I've had a very long day, and that I already _have_ a boyfriend!" She crossed her arms across her chest, and then stared down all the boys around her, eyebrow twitching as if to dare any of them to try flirting with her one more time.

In the stunned silence, Satoshi pushed his glasses up his nose and laughed quietly.

* * *

"Aww… I kinda wish we could stay longer," Risa complained with a sigh. Satoshi snorted, and then pulled the comforter up closer to his neck. He had always heard that castles were quite chilly at night, and apparently the observation was accurate.

"What? Why would we want to stay here?" Riku asked. He could hear her shaking out her blankets or something in the dark room. They had been told that the sheets were fresh, but perhaps she was just worried about sleeping in a bed that typically belonged to a boy.

"There are so many cute boys here!" Risa replied, giggling. Her sister made a grumbling noise, and there came a heavy flop, probably from a tired and frustrated older twin. "Come on, you just want to hurry away so you can see Daisuke," the younger one teased.

"Daisuke's the reason we're all going there," Satoshi reminded her. "Though I suppose it's more accurate to say that he's the reason we don't have to stay here."

In truth, their plan had been created more out of a need to escape Durmstrang Institute more than a desire to see the silly redhead. He heard Riku sigh quietly, and Risa harrumph.

"It's probably best if we all get as much sleep as we can. There may be more obstacles for us to face tomorrow, you know," Satoshi continued. He let his mind wander across the problems they could expect. Dumbledore. What kind of person was he? What were his goals? He hoped that he and the twins weren't walking straight into a trap.

He tried to sink deeper into his pillow. Tomorrow he was going to meet with the one person who had known about his existence before the terrible events of four years ago. The one person who had known…

… and done nothing.

"Good night, Riku," Risa chimed suddenly, adding, "Good night, Satoshi."

"Good night, Risa…" Riku started, trailing off into a yawn. "And Satoshi," she finished sleepily.

"Good night."

* * *

_Author's Note: Yay! We've reached the twentieth chapter! I shall leave you with a quote from the other day.._

_ Tobi Tortue: Anything you do to me, I will make Krad do to Satoshi in my story!_

_ Angelic Demoness: … You're going to make Krad hit him over the head with frozen lasagna?_

_ Tobi Tortue: …. *fail*_

_Thus, lasagna makes an appearance in this chapter instead of beef stew. I hope you've enjoyed. Thanks for reading, and please review!_


	21. Chapter 21

**Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief**

**Chapter 21**

* * *

Daisuke smiled over at his fellow Gryffindors with nervous anticipation. Ginny flashed him a grin.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," Dumbledore announced from the front of the Great Hall, sending a hush through the collected students. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber, where they will be receiving their first instructions."

Daisuke glanced around the room, wondering who would be chosen. The Beauxbatons students looked as if they could hardly stay in their seats, and the scarlet Durmstrang boys were watching Dumbledore very seriously. But who would be the Hogwarts champion?

_I still can't believe they got permission to do this,_ Dark mused silently.

Daisuke smiled. _It sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun, though._

_I just hope that old codger knows what he's doing,_ Dark laughed back, clearly intent on enjoying the Triwizard Tournament despite whatever misgivings he might have.

With a wave of his wand, Dumbledore extinguished all the lights in the room, except for the candles inside the carved pumpkins. Daisuke gulped in a breath of air. The magnificent Goblet of Fire shone brilliantly in the center of the room, captivating everyone's attention. Daisuke could see the shimmer of its light reflected in the eyes of all the students.

"Any second…" a voice from the Gryffindor table whispered in anticipation.

Suddenly, the flames in the goblet went from dazzling blue to a deep red. A moment later, the fire doubled in size, causing a small boy at the Hufflepuff table to yelp and fall from his bench.

And there, on the tip of the flame, rose a scrap of paper. It rode a wave of sparkling fire towards the ceiling, and then drifted gently back towards the floor. Stepping forward, Dumbledore reached out a hand and deftly snatched the parchment out of the air. The flames returned to blue, as if they had only been mimicking the colors of the foreign students' robes all along.

Daisuke held his breath as his Headmaster looked down at the small piece of paper, adjusted his half-moon spectacles, and then looked back up at the waiting crowd.

"The champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum!"

The room erupted into wild applause. Daisuke craned his neck around, looking for whomever it was who was starting the walk up towards the staff table. He nearly bashed his forehead against Parvati, dodging in the nick of time.

She blinked at him, and he tried not to start blushing and apologizing. Dark started laughing, but before the Phantom Thief could slip in a comment on Daisuke's clumsiness, the fire in the goblet darkened into red again.

Beyond it, Daisuke finally caught sight of a sturdy-looking boy in scarlet, who undoubtedly went by the name Viktor Krum. But his attention was quickly drawn back to the goblet as the flames reached towards the enchanted ceiling and released another piece of slightly charred paper.

Dumbledore smiled kindly as he grasped the paper and went about reading it. He lifted his head.

"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!"

Daisuke watched as a strikingly beautiful girl waltzed gracefully past him, towards the staff table. Her long blond hair flowed behind her, complementing the smooth curve of her back. The sky blue of the Beaxbatons uniform perfected her sleek—

_Hey now, don't get too carried away, Daisuke. You just might find yourself transforming!_ Dark teased wickedly, and suddenly Daisuke swallowed, averting his eyes from the girl as a blush crept up into his cheeks.

Why on earth did that girl have such an effect on him? She was definitely the same one that had caused Ginny to tease him all throughout dinner last night. What had Ron called her? A veela? It had something to do with her stunning looks, right?

_I'd say that 'stunning' is surprisingly apt, _Dark remarked with a short laugh.

Daisuke shook his head and willed himself to pay attention as the Goblet of Fire's dancing flames turned crimson.

There was only one more champion to choose. Daisuke gave one last glance around the Great Hall, wondering which Hogwarts student would become their school's representative and champion. He knew that most of the Gryffindors were hoping for Angelina, while all the Hufflepuffs (and apparently some Ravenclaws) were in favor of Ced—

With a cascade of fire, the third piece of parchment erupted into the dark air. It fluttered back towards the ground as the flames trembled warily. The tension throughout the room heightened, and it felt as if the entire room were holding a collective breath.

"The Hogwarts champion is…"

Dumbledore's face grew very grave for a moment, and the Hall's quiet turned to absolute silence. The headmaster looked out into the crowd as if to draw out the anticipation for as long as possible, his eyes searching as he slowly spoke two more words.

"Daisuke Niwa."

Daisuke stared, blinking.

Wait. _What?_ Dumbledore couldn't have possibly said… he couldn't possibly have meant that the champion… the Hogwarts champion… was him? It was impossible! And yet… there was his headmaster, standing at the front of the room, eyes fixated on the redhead.

But he hadn't put his name in! He wasn't even old enough! _Dark!_ he whined, mentally shaking the Phantom Thief. _How can this be happening?_

_Just calm down, Daisuke, and follow directions,_ his other self responded coolly, adapting to the situation quickly. _And if you don't, _I_ will._ He could sense the smirk in the Phantom Thief's words, and tried not to get frustrated. Wasn't Dark supposed to be on his side?

He stood up, and then suddenly noticed the whispers around him, louder than the small spattering of applause. Ginny's green eyes stared at him in amazement, and he was aware of Harry, Lavender, and Parvati staring in awe. Hermione was shaking her head, and from the other tables, the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students were craning their necks to get a better look at…

The Hogwarts champion?

Daisuke swallowed thickly as he slid out from the bench and walked up towards Dumbledore and the staff table. There must have been some kind of mistake. He hoped he wouldn't be in trouble for having his name burst from the Goblet of Fire. Or had the goblet just known he was around, and deemed him more worthy than the rest of the student body? He couldn't decide what scenario could be more ridiculous.

_Steady, Daisuke, _Dark cautioned when Daisuke's body threatened to freeze and he thought about walking right back to his table and telling them he was technically not eligible to compete.

Dumbledore gave him a heavy look when he approached, and then clapped a few times, which signaled to the rest of the Great Hall that they were to do the same. A few cheers even came forth as Daisuke turned towards the room by the staff table.

He was thankful, however, when the door thudded behind him and the sound from the hall was muted. The room he had entered contained a healthy fire and the champions from the foreign schools.

They looked over at him solemnly as he approached, and he tried not to blush as Fleur fixated her blue eyes on him. Dark's laughter, however, brought him out of what he was considering to be a veela-induced trance.

"'ello," she said, still staring at him like she didn't quite believe he was the champion for Hogwarts. Then again, Daisuke wasn't sure he believed it, either. "You are… ze 'ogwarts champion?"

Daisuke replied in a head motion that could either be a nod or a shake and stepped into the empty space between the two, in front of the fireplace. Viktor Krum held out his hand. "Krum," he said, and Daisuke nodded, shaking the proffered hand.

"I'm Daisuke Niwa," he replied automatically, looking over at Fleur as he said his last name. He didn't want such a beautiful girl to feel excluded. He heard Dark's subdued chuckle, and set his mind to focus on what was important, rather than fall under the spell of whatever it meant to be a veela.

It was discomforting to realize that both the other students were taller than him. Krum was about twice as wide, too, with a grip that could damage the weak, he realized when he dropped his hand after their handshake. They were probably three years older than him, and undoubtedly had far more experience with magic.

_Don't sell yourself short, Daisuke,_ Dark reminded him. _You've got me, and that's way more than these kids will ever have._

Daisuke tried not to get disheartened, but then again, it was Daisuke who was going to be participating against his will, not Dark. In fact, if he didn't know any better, he'd guess that Dark was actually starting to look at the whole mess as some kind of opportunity to show off. Dark probably _wanted_ to be a champion.

After a long, penetrating silence during which Daisuke only felt more and more inadequate despite Dark's encouragement, the door creaked open again. Hoping to see Dumbledore to tell him there had been a mistake, Daisuke was slightly crestfallen to see Harry.

Then again, he liked Harry, so it really wasn't that bad.

"What is it?" Fleur asked. "Do zey want us back in ze Hall?"

Before Harry could answer, the door swooshed open again and the large, boisterous man from the staff table—Mr. Bagman—entered the room, grabbing Harry by the arm. Daisuke winced, seeing the uncomfortable look on his fellow Gryffindor's face.

"Extraordinary!" Bagman was saying as he propelled Harry further into the room. "Absolutely extraordinary! Gentlemen… lady, may I introduce—incredible though it may seem—the _fourth_ Triwizard champion?"

Daisuke thought he was certainly the only one in the room whose hopes rose at that moment. So he wasn't the only one too young to enter! There had probably been some kind of mistake if Harry, who was also fourteen, had his name chosen.

"Oh, vairy funny joke, Meester Bagman," Fleur intoned girlishly. Immediately Daisuke realized she was probably right—it wasn't called the _Tri_wizard tournament for nothing.

But Bagman seemed confused by her response. "Joke?" he asked. "No, no, not at all! Harry's name just came out of the Goblet of Fire!"

"But evidently zair 'as been a mistake," she continued in a darker tone. "'E cannot compete. 'E is too young."

Daisuke raised his hand, catching Bagman's attention before he could respond to the French girl. "Me, too, actually. I'm only fourteen, too." He glanced at Harry, and suddenly found a budding solidarity. "I'm not eligible, either."

At this, Bagman simply blinked. Krum sighed heavily from Daisuke's side and Fleur tossed her hair, rolling her eyes.

"Is zis 'ow it's done 'ere?" she retorted, just as the door swooshed open again, this time admitting the three Headmasters, Mr. Crouch, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape.

Daisuke swallowed, wondering how much trouble he was going to be in. _But I didn't put my name in!_ he cried fruitlessly to Dark.

_And neither did I,_ the Phantom Thief replied. Daisuke could tell his alter ego was trying to focus on the exchange between the adults, so he did his best to pay attention and not get freaked out by some kind of horrible magical punishment. He would just have to prove his innocence when the time came.

"Madame Maxime!" Fleur interrupted, striding forward gracefully. She pointed at Harry and then at Daisuke. "Zey say zat zese little ones are to compete also!"

Daisuke swallowed, even as he heard Dark bristle at her words. _Little ones?_

Though, in comparison to Madame Maxime, both he and Dark qualified as little. The large, formidable woman looked somewhere near anger as she turned to the frail-looking Hogwarts headmaster. "What is ze meaning of zis, Dumbly-dorr?"

"I'd rather like to know that myself, Dumbledore," the Durmstrang headmaster intoned icily. He glanced at the two Hogwarts students. "_Two _champions? Both who have broken the rules we set down? Or is it that I have not read the rules carefully enough?" His tone was bitter and sharp as he spat out his last line.

"_C'est impossible,_" muttered the Beauxbatons headmistress. "'Ogwarts cannot 'ave two champions. Such a zing is most unjust, regardless of age."

"We were under the impression that your Age Line would keep out younger contestants, Dumbledore," Karkaroff continued. "Otherwise, we would, of course, have brought along a wider selection of candidates from our own schools." Daisuke was really beginning to dislike the sneer in the man's voice, and could tell that it was bothering Dark more than it was bothering him.

"But I didn't put my name in," Daisuke burst out, and then realized that everyone else in the room had turned to look at him.

"Neither did I," said Harry, drawing the attention away for a moment.

"I thought as much," Dumbledore said quietly after everyone had stared at the two of them for long enough. "Did either of you ask an older student to put it into the Goblet of Fire for you?" he asked kindly, though his gray eyes gave off less of a twinkle than usual.

"No," Daisuke and Harry said in unison. He heard Snape make a small noise of disbelief, and nearly flinched when he heard Dark's voice after Dumbledore gave him a long, even look.

_He doesn't believe us!_ Dark hissed. He could feel Dark's sense of injustice and tried not to let it become his own. It wouldn't do to get too riled up in this situation. So many people already were.

"But zey must be lying!" Madame Maxime cried, shaking her head as if it were the only answer.

"They could not have crossed the Age Line," said Professor McGonagall, speaking up for the first time. "I am sure we are all agreed on that—"

Madame Maxime shrugged.

"Are we?" Karakaroff intoned dramatically.

"It is possible that I made a mistake, of course," Dumbledore offered politely.

_No, it's not, _Dark said angrily, even though it appeared as if most of his anger was at Dumbledore. Daisuke had the feeling there was some kind of history or clue in the entire exchange that he was thus far missing completely.

"Dumbledore, you know perfectly well you did not make a mistake!" McGonagall countered. "Really, what nonsense!" she went on, throwing her hands into the air, causing Snape to take a step back and stop curling his lip disdainfully at Harry. "They could not have possibly crossed the line themselves, and if Professor Dumbledore believes they did not persuade an older student to do it for them, I'm sure that should be good enough for everybody else!" She met Snape's glare determinedly, and Daisuke found himself impressed.

Karkaroff switched tactics, turning to Crouch and Bagman with a friendly smile. "You are our—er—objective judges. Surely you will agree that this is most irregular?"

Bagman appeared to be at a loss for words for the moment, but fortunately his quieter partner was willing to answer the question.

"We must follow the rules," he began without any ado, "and the rules state clearly that those people whose names come out of the Goblet of Fire are bound to compete in the tournament."

"Well, Barty knows the rule book back to front," Bagman said with a smile, as if any of his words had added something important to the discussion.

"I insist upon resubmitting the names of the rest of my students," Karkaroff demanded, turning to Dumbledore. "You will set up the Goblet of Fire once more, and we will continue adding names until each school has two champions of any age. It's only fair, Dumbledore."

Daisuke breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the words, watching as Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully and stroked his long, graying beard.

"But Karkaroff," Bagman interrupted, "it doesn't work like that. The Goblet of Fire's just gone out—it won't reignite until the start of the next tournament—"

"—in which Durmstrang will most certainly not be competing!" Karkaroff exploded, causing all of the students, even Krum, to jump back a little. "After all our meetings and negotiations and compromises, I little expected something of this nature to occur! I have half a mind to leave now!" he shouted, spraying bits of spittle towards the Hogwarts headmaster.

"Empty threat, Karkaroff." Daisuke turned to see Professor Moody standing in the doorway, making his way towards the group of arguing adults with his distinctive step-_clunk_. "You can't leave your champion now. He's got to compete. They've all got to compete." Daisuke felt his stomach drop out at the words. "Binding magical contract, like Dumbledore said. Convenient, eh?"

There was no way out? Daisuke didn't _want_ to compete. He hadn't put his name in—hadn't even tried—and now… now he _had_ to?

_Steady, Daisuke,_ Dark said. _It won't be so bad. If you want, I could even take care of the tasks for you._

Daisuke refrained from telling Dark that it didn't really make him feel better. He would rather let Harry do it and had been looking forward to watching and cheering on the Hogwarts champion.

"Convenient?" Karkaroff asked, incredulous as Moody's word choice. "I'm afraid I don't understand you, Moody."

"Don't you?" Moody said quietly, in a voice that made the hairs on the back of Daisuke's neck stand on end. "It's very simple, Karkaroff. Someone put Potter's name in that goblet knowing he'd have to compete if it came out."

"But what about ze uzzah?" Madame Maxime chimed in disdainfully. "You zink zat someone else put 'is name in ze goblet as well?"

Moody shook his scraggly head only slightly, and shrugged. "We've got two very different situations on our hands. One may have slightly more… interesting implications." Moody's magical blue eye fixated on Karkaroff for a moment, and then continued whizzing around the room. "If anyone's got a reason to complain, it's the two of them." Moody paused, giving Karkaroff and then Maxime each a long look. "Funny thing is… I don't hear either of _them_ saying a word…."

Harry's mouth opened nervously, but before he could get any words out, Fleur cut in.

"But why should 'e complain? 'E 'as ze chance to compete, 'asn't 'e? We 'ave all been 'hoping to be chosen for weeks and weeks! Ze honor for our schools! A thousand Galleons in prize money—zis is a chance many would die for!"

"Maybe someone's hoping Potter _is_ going to die for it," Moody said in a low voice, and suddenly the room went very still. "He's _Harry Potter._"

_Dark?_ Daisuke queried tremulously. _Exactly how dangerous is the tournament? Do you know?_

_Don't you worry, Daisuke, it's nothing I can't handle._ This time, he _did_ feel reassured by the smooth confidence in the voice of the Phantom Thief. At the very least, Daisuke wouldn't die, but… if the world knew his other identity….

"We all know Professor Moody considers the morning wasted if he hasn't discovered six plots to murder him before lunchtime," Karkaroff said loudly, pulling Daisuke from his thoughts. "Apparently he is now teaching his students to fear assassination too. An odd quality in a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dumbledore, but no doubt you had your reasons."

"Imagining things, am I? Seeing things, eh? It was a skilled witch or wizard who put their names in that goblet…." Moody replied cryptically. His stared pointedly at Karkaroff.

"Ah, what evidence is zere of zat?" the Beauxbatons headmistress asked.

"Because they hoodwinked a very powerful magical object!" Moody returned without pause. "It would have needed an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm to bamboozle that goblet into forgetting that only three schools compete in the tournament…." The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher shook his head in a way that seemed to confirm the direness of the situation.

_He's right… this is… uglier that I first thought, _Dark intoned seriously, all anger apparently put aside as he contemplated Moody's latest words.

The professor continued, his voice darkening from its usual light rasp to a gravelly tone. "I'm guessing they submitted Potter's name under a fourth school, to make sure he was the only one in his category."

Daisuke resisted the urge to suddenly shake his head as he thought towards the Phantom Thief. _But none of this relates to me, anymore. Dark, why do you think Moody's focusing on Harry?_

The thief hesitated. _I'm… not really sure._ Daisuke felt his other self's invisible shrug, and also that his attention was mostly directed at the continuing conversation._ Perhaps he has some enemies, or relatives with enemies._

"You seem to have given this a great deal of thought, Moody, and a very ingenious theory it is—though of course, I heard you recently got it into your head that one of your birthday presents contained a cunningly disguised basilisk egg, and smashed it to pieces before realizing it was a carriage clock. So you'll understand if we don't take you entirely seriously…" Karkaroff sneered, his eyebrows drawing together and etching the lines in his face deeper.

"There are those who'll turn innocent occasions to their advantage," Moody said darkly, leaning towards Karkaroff. "It's my job to think the way Dark wizards do, Karkaroff—as you ought to remember—"

"Alastor!" Dumbledore promptly interjected with a note of warning in his voice. Moody immediately fell silent and leaned back, but Daisuke could see the seething fury on Karkaroff's face.

"How this situation arose, we do not fully know," Dumbledore continued after a heavy breath. He looked at all the faces in the room in turn. "It seems to me, however, that we have no choice but to accept it. Both Daisuke and Harry have been chosen to compete in the Tournament. This, therefore, they will do…"

Daisuke swallowed dryly, and his eyes met Harry's green ones. He had the feeling they were thinking the same thing: Why does it have to be this way?

"Ah, but Dumbly-dorr," Madame Maxime attempted with a raised finger the size of Daisuke's wrist.

"My dear Madame Maxime, if you have an alternative, I would be delighted to hear it." Dumbledore's words seemed to take all the fuss from her, as she became quiet and then shook her head and gave him a sour look.

Dumbledore switched his gaze to Karkaroff, who kept his lips tightly sealed, but vented his frustration through his gaze.

"Well, shall we crack on, then?" Bagman said suddenly, in a voice entirely too cheerful given the thinly-veiled (or not veiled) hostility in the room. "Got to give our champions their instructions, haven't we? Barty, want to do the honors?" He rubbed his hands together in excitement as he glanced over at Crouch.

"Yes," the stout man said slowly, "instructions. Yes… the first task…."

_I think something's troubling him,_ Dark said without warning, and Daisuke looked closer. Indeed, there seemed to be something off about Mr. Crouch. But it didn't appear to be that serious, either. Perhaps he had had a long day, and was just due for a lot of paperwork trying to officially sort out the mess they were all in.

"The first task is designed to test your daring," he said, turning to face the four champions. They instinctively drew forward slightly, with Daisuke standing next to Harry between the older students. "So we are not going to be telling you what it is. Courage in the face of the unknown is an important quality in a wizard… very important….

"The first task will take place on November the twenty-fourth, in front of the other students and the panel of judges.

"The champions are not permitted to ask for or accept help of any kind from their teachers to complete the tasks in the tournament. The champions will face the first challenge armed only with their wands. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. Owing to the demanding and time-consuming nature of the tournament, the champions are exempted from end-of-year tests…."

* * *

It was a relief for Daisuke to finally get out of the stuffy room and away from all the officials. He shook his head. Why did everything bad or unusual seem to happen to him?

_Aw, come on, Daisuke, I'm not that much of a curse, am I?_ Dark teased, his mood having lightened considerably when Dumbledore assured them that Gryffindor was no doubt waiting to throw a party for both its champions.

_Yeah, but what about Krad? He's always causing trouble for us,_ Daisuke replied in a whine. If he thought too much about it, being at a magical school at all was unusual enough.

_I'd say he's more Satoshi's problem than ours,_ the Phantom Thief mused thoughtfully.

It was enough to make Daisuke want to pull out his spiky red hair! Here he was, worrying about his future and his horrid luck, and Dark was hardly even paying attention! It was getting pretty obvious that Dark was actually looking forward to the Tournament, just so he could show off and then reap the rewards of pretty girls or something like that. Was Hogwarts destined to become a repeat of Azumano Junior High? Would Dark make him transform by teasing him about Riku, and then go chase Ravenclaw skirts or something like that?

"Aaargh!" he said angrily, clenching his fists and squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. Even this, Dark seemed to think was funny.

"Daisuke?" came a voice from behind, and instantly Daisuke felt silly. He turned around to see Harry approach cautiously from behind. "I didn't mean to, er, intrude, but… I was thinking we could just walk back together?"

Daisuke nodded, feeling the blush leave his cheeks as he recognized Harry's tone as one in need of companionship. They were, after all, in exactly the same boat. At least, to Daisuke they were, but the things Moody had implied about Harry's name coming from the Goblet were…

"Harry?" Daisuke asked suddenly, looking over at the other boy as they both shuffled slowly along the hallway. He went on when Harry returned his gaze. "I was wondering… about that stuff Moody said… do you really believe someone wants to kill you?"

Harry stared at Daisuke in shock, halting abruptly and turning to face him. "You… don't have any guesses?"

Daisuke shook his head in confusion. "Of course not, Harry. It's not as if I expected you'd have any!"

Harry looked just as confused for a moment. "But I'm Harry," he said, as if repeating his name would make it clearer. "Harry Potter."

"We room together! I know your name," Daisuke replied indignantly.

"But you don't know… anything else about me," Harry continued, pinning Daisuke with an unreadable look. Why was everyone acting so strange lately?

"It's not like I stalk you, Harry," he said flatly, but he felt that the conversation had gained Dark's interest. "Besides, it's not like you're a bad person," Daisuke continued earnestly. "I'd be surprised if someone like you had enemies."

Harry shook his head, and then massaged the bridge of his nose underneath his glasses. When he finally looked back at Daisuke, it was with a smile. "I guess I figured everyone had heard about it. It's kind of a relief to know that not _everyone_ makes a big deal out of it."

"Out of what?" Daisuke asked, feeling more tired than anything else.

"That… well… I mean, how my parents died," Harry said solemnly.

Daisuke gasped. "Your parents are dead?" He shook his head wordlessly, feeling suddenly very sorry for Harry. "I'm so sorry—I-I didn't hear about it." He let out a huge sigh and looked at his feet. "It must be pretty tough, especially now, with this Tournament and all…."

Daisuke couldn't imagine what it would feel like if both his mom and his dad died. His mom had always been around to take care of him. She had made him breakfast before school, convinced him to confess to Risa, helped him pick out Riku's birthday present, and done everything exactly as a mother should. And his father, well, if anything happened to him, Daisuke would never be able to accept it. Although his dad had been away for long periods of his childhood, he still admired and respected him, and in a lot of ways, he hoped to grow up to be just like him. To imagine going home to no parents… just Towa and his grandpa….

"Er, it happened a long time ago," Harry said suddenly, looking over at Daisuke in concern. "But… look, have you ever heard of Voldemort?" he asked.

Daisuke shook his head.

Harry took a deep breath, and started walking down the hallway again. "He was a powerful dark wizard. He terrorized a lot of people, and had this groups of followers—the Death Eaters, they're called—"

"Wait, you mean You-Know-Who?" Daisuke asked, remembering his conversation with Ginny on the steps of the castle.

Harry bobbed his head. "Anyway, when I was a baby, he killed my parents and then… tried to kill me." At this point, Daisuke gasped just as Harry shrugged. The following moment was slightly awkward, but Harry continued with his story. "For some reason, Voldemort couldn't, and instead he lost most of his powers and everyone assumed he was dead."

_He said 'assumed,' _Dark said suddenly. _He thinks this Voldemort is still out there._

Daisuke swallowed nervously and then hung his head. "That sounds awful, Harry. I had no idea."

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by a loud call from a wall.

"Oh, there you are, boys!" the Fat Lady called, waving a hand. "I heard from Violet what happened," she cooed as they approached her. Harry gave Daisuke a sidelong glance, and Daisuke smiled back. "Hurry on in," the portrait continued. "They can't start the party without you!"

* * *

By the time Daisuke finally made it up to his room, he was utterly exhausted. He was thankful that tomorrow was Saturday, even though he knew he had loads of homework to do. At least he didn't have to work at anti-Krad defenses anymore, because if he did, he felt that he would probably succumb to the weight of all the schoolwork.

He flopped face-first onto his bed, smiling into his pillow at the mental image Dark sent him of literally falling under the weight of textbooks.

_As long as that doesn't really happen, it's funny,_ he responded, rolling over so he could at least stare at his pajamas. After a moment, he convinced himself that he needed to wear them, so he pushed himself into a sitting position. He struggled out of his shirt and tossed it onto the floor, promising himself he'd pick it up in the morning. He pulled on his cozy flannel top, fumbling with the buttons, and then kicked off his jeans.

Oddly enough, something fell out of them.

_What's that?_ Dark asked, his interest obviously piqued. Daisuke yawned. How was it that Dark didn't seem at all tired?

_I don't know—probably a wrapper from one of Ginny's brothers' candies,_ he replied wearily. He put one leg into his pajama bottoms, and leaned over to pick up the wayward scrap of folded paper that had fallen out of his pocket. He stared at it for a long moment, realizing that the paper didn't actually look like a candy wrapper. It looked much more like a note. A folded-up message.

He hurriedly stuffed his other leg into his pajamas, and then opened up the note, using the light from Neville's wand—the boy had apparently fallen asleep before whispering _nox_—to read it.

He stared at it. _Lemon drops?_ he echoed to Dark. So… was it a candy wrapper?

Dark laughed. _He never changes, does he?_ The Phantom Theif seemed to suddenly be in a cheery mood. _Come on, Daisuke, we've got an appointment._

_What are you talking about? I'm so tired!_ Daisuke yawned, looking longingly at his pillow. _The only place I'm going is to sleep,_ he said firmly.

_Well, that suits me just fine,_ Dark said with a roguish laugh. _The appointment's for me, anyway._

Without any warning, the Phantom Thief smoothed his presence out onto Daisuke's skin, transforming it into his own.

_Hey! Wait a minute!_ Daisuke yelped in surprise, even as the hair in front of his eyes darkened to strands of purple. Dark held up his hand in front of his face for a moment, tossing some of his bangs back carelessly, and then curved his lips into a smile.

_You just go back to sleep if you're tired_. He stepped out of bed, ignoring Daisuke's protests.

_What if you wake people up?_ the redhead pouted. _If they do, then what's going to happen to me?_

_Relax, Daisuke,_ Dark purred, his grin growing wider as he made his way down the stairs towards the Common Room. _I'm the legendary Phantom Thief!_

In moments, Dark had flitted across the room, past the few students who had fallen asleep in the chairs by the fireplace during the celebration. The banners and flags were still draped around the dimly lit room. Dark looked towards the Fat Lady's portrait, and then smirked, turning away to face the window. Without even the slightest noise, he leapt beside it and placed his hands on the sill. It opened smoothly, effortlessly, and Daisuke could hear the faint echo of his own thoughts from several nights before.

_Too easy,_ Dark murmured, and then added the sentiments that strictly belonged to the black-winged artwork. _It's no fun if they don't make it a challenge!_

_You know students aren't allowed outside their dormitories after hours,_ Daisuke reminded him sourly.

_I'm not technically a student,_ Dark retorted smugly.

_That's not what you said this morning!_ the redhead railed in vain as Dark leaned out the window. How could he be so self-centered! He should have known Dark only existed to cause him trouble…. Even now, Dark was completely ignoring him.

But the night air was cool beneath a slightly clouded sky, and Daisuke could feel Dark take a deep breath, senses coming alive and fantastically alert. Starlight shivered along the side of the castle beside the shadowed forms of the clouds.

With a smile, Dark rolled and twisted out the window, feet landing gently into place on a decorative ridge a meter below the sill his fingers still clung to. The wind rustled through his long bangs, and he reached a hand up to slide the window back into place, a broad smile flashing across his features as he peered in at the sealed room. The glassy reflection showed the wild twinkle in the Phantom Thief's amethyst eyes as he surveyed his handiwork.

The slight breeze that curled across the common room was the only indication that the mysterious Phantom Thief had ever crossed it.

_Off we go,_ Dark laughed, releasing his hold on the sill as he edged his toes backwards.

_Wiz isn't here!_ Daisuke yelled as they began falling. _Aaaaaaahh!_

Dark continued laughing until his hands caught a horizontal flagpole, which he used to change the direction of his momentum. He swung off it like a gymnast, arcing through the night air until he landed precisely on a fierce-looking gargoyle. Dark crouched down and patted its cheek affectionately. If Daisuke could have, he would have rolled his eyes. Dark was just showing off, now.

_Alright, alright, I'll hurry on my way,_ the Phantom Thief conceded. _I guess I just haven't been out in a while, but you're right. It's late, and _you'll_ at least need to be well rested by the morning._

The thief took a deep breath, and dropped off the gargoyle, landing a story below in a roll. He ran lightly along the slanted shingles of the roof, and then jumped up to another protruding dragonesque gargoyle, hoisting himself on top of it and leaping towards another.

_Who is it that you're meeting, anyway?_ Daisuke asked. _You said it was an appointment? Or are you just making it up?_ he finished flatly. He wouldn't put it past Dark.

_You'll see, _Dark replied mysteriously, lifting himself up on top of the next gargoyle. He leapt to another, bounding across the curved face of the tower like nothing more than a shadow. He knew how to use every crack, every ledge, and every ornamental outcropping to his advantage. The castle below them slowly spun as they spiraled up the tower, passing window after darkened window silently.

And suddenly, Daisuke could see their destination. Towards the top of the tower, a single lit window. But whose window was it?

Dark slowed in his rapid ascent, and then paused, settling onto a ledge just below the lit window. He leaned his back into the wall, staring out at the broad expanse of sky and clouds for a moment. The panorama was gorgeous, and everything below seemed to be made of miniature. The black water of the lake was a velvety cloth scattered with diamonds—the twinkling reflections of the stars—except for a silhouette in the shape of the Durmstrang ship. If not for the breeze that caused the tallest trees to sway, Daisuke could have mistaken the Forbidden Forest for a thick, dark green carpet. He and Dark were higher than the Owlery. They were level with the Astronomy Tower's wide observation deck. Dark had taken them only three stories below the rooftop of the tallest tower.

Dark shook his head, and Daisuke wondered what he was thinking about. Maybe… a long time ago… Dark had come this way before?

The Phantom Thief laughed suddenly, shaking his head. "Figures," he said aloud, putting his toes on the edge of the ledge and looking up.

A moment later, Dark was closing the window behind him, and standing in an apparently unused corner of the room. The bookcases were covered in dust, and a heavy-looking table was cluttered up with some kind of cloth and a cracked crystal ball. There were old, dried papers with brown ink on the floor, and an empty golden birdcage on top of a dusty cabinet. What _was_ this place?

Whatever it was, it was obvious that Dark was quite familiar with it. He smiled and Dark could feel him relax and shake out his shoulders. At least it was much warmer inside than it had been on the tower wall.

"So, I see you've moved up in the world," Dark called, sliding between the two old bookcases and striking a cool yet natural pose in the middle of the room. Daisuke inwardly gasped.

Dumbledore was seated behind an enormous desk piled with papers, books, old quills, and a stand with a giant red bird. He looked up over his half moon spectacles and smiled kindly, as if it were perfectly normal for a purple-haired man in blue pajamas to stand uninvited in the middle of his office.

"Ah, yes. Welcome. Care for a lemon drop?" the Headmaster asked, gesturing to a bowl full of them that they had passed on their way in.

Dark laughed, holding up his hand with a wrapped candy between each finger. "I already helped myself." He pulled a chair from the wall and swung a leg onto each side of a chair, straddling it backwards as he popped a candy into his mouth. He folded his arms across its back and leaned forward casually onto his wrists. "So," he quipped with a smirk, "did you want to shake hands before the games begin?"

_Dark,_ Daisuke cried in embarrassment, _that's no way to talk to the Headmaster!_

_Relax, Daisuke, and stop being such a worrywart._ As usual, there was no sign of remorse from the Phantom Thief. He cocked a purple eyebrow at the old wizard, who was shaking his head slowly.

"Dark, that's not the attitude I was hoping you'd take," he said, pulling his glasses from his face. He set them down on his desk and the bird gave a sudden squawk, startling Daisuke, although Dark didn't flinch. The Headmaster slowly walked around the desk, and then leaned against the edge. "The Triwizard Tournament is not something to take lightly," he said solemnly.

Dark laughed. "What made you think I was talking about the tournament?" He leaned over the back of the chair with a roguish smirk. "You and I have our own game—if you haven't forgotten."

_What?!_ Daisuke yelped in surprise. Well, Dumbledore _did_ look to be about his grandfather's age, or older, so maybe he and Dark had been troublemakers together? That couldn't be right!

"As you can see, I've grown over the past forty years," Dumbledore returned graciously, stroking his beard. "And more than just a fine beard."

"And that's a mighty fine beard," Dark snorted.

"Now's not the time to be playing such a game, Dark," the old wizard said sternly. He shook his head and sighed, turning around to search for something on his desk. "Besides, don't you think you'll be in for enough trouble now that you've gone and—ah, here it is—done this?" The Headmaster turned back around as he said the final words, holding up a piece of slightly blacked parchment to the light.

Dark stood and plucked the parchment out of the man's hands, glancing at it as he answered. "Gone and done what?" Dark blinked down at the paper, and then stared at it.

_Hey,_ Daisuke said in recognition, _that must be the paper from the Goblet of Fire!_

"Why does it say Kokuyoku?" Dark asked grimly, looking Dumbledore in the eye.

The old wizard returned the look. "You're just lucky I know which boy goes by that name."

_What?! He knows my identity! Dark! What am I going to do?!_ Daisuke yelled. How on earth had the doddering old man figured out that he was the same as Dark? Or maybe, maybe—aah! His mother had been so excited for him to go to the school, maybe _she_ had told the Headmaster! But wait, she knew how important it was to keep the family secret, so it had to have been Dark himself! But when? And why? _Dark! You're going to get me expelled!_ he continued in frustration. _Act nicer!_

_Nah, old Albus won't expel you,_ Dark replied, cracking a slight smile at his tamer's words.

"You don't know how lucky you are that I've met you personally, andthat I had my wits about me when I read that. Imagine the chaos if I had read your handiwork syllable for syllable," Dumbledore said. The Phantom Thief opened his mouth, but Dumbledore held up a hand. "No, what's done is done, Dark. You beat me at this round—I admit defeat. And now, since you've won the game, let us be on better terms than before," he said, holding out his hand towards Dark.

The Phantom Thief looked warily at the proffered hand for a moment, and then shook it. "So you just wanted a handshake after all," he said, grinning.

"There's more to it, Dark," Dumbledore intoned cryptically. "I've spoken with some of the faculty on the subject, and we agree that there may be more danger in this tournament than we anticipated. I, for one, would prefer if no one gets hurt. If you could keep a close watch on—"

"Babysitting one's enough for me," Dark answered, lifting his hands up to signal that he wanted no part of it.

_What do you mean 'babysitting one'?_ Daisuke asked indignantly. But Dark ignored him as the headmaster continued.

"A close watch onthe school," Dumbledore continued firmly. He nodded, and Dark blinked at him for a moment.

"You're the one who needs to keep a close watch," the thief joked. Dumbledore put his glasses back on slowly as if he hadn't heard.

_You're not planning on stealing from the school, are you? _Daisuke asked in shock. _You said all the artwork here was good!_

"At any rate, I believe it's far too late for students to be out of bed," he said, glancing up around the room as if his eyes might alight on a clock if only he could find one. Daisuke mentally sighed. Why was the person in charge of his school so weird?

Dark gave the man a cheeky grin. "Not a student!" he taunted, using the same excuse he had used on Daisuke. But as Dumbledore turned back to his desk, he at least he began making his way towards the window he had used as an entrance, slipping between the bookshelves.

An old mirror caught the headmaster's reflection as he set a hand on the red bird, petting it slowly. "There may be someone using the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, Fawkes," he whispered to the bird, causing Dark to stop mid-stride and listen, watching the old man in the cracked mirror. "They say it takes a thief to catch one. If only I were a thief…."

Dark laughed loudly as he brushed his fingers across the table with the cloth-covered crystal ball. The sound rang in the dusty old room even after he had closed the window and leapt into the cool night, racing across the ramparts and rooftops towards Gryffindor Tower. Occasionally, the starlight caught on Dumbledore's crystal ball as he carried it away with him.

_Dark! Why did you take that!_ Daisuke yelled, aghast that Dark would take something from the Headmaster. Without reason, too! And no warning note! It wasn't even art! Dumbledore would know it was him!

Dark let loose a wild laugh, turning into the wind to face the Headmaster's tower. _Let the games begin!_

* * *

_Author's Note: Yaaaay! I'm so excited to finally post this chapter! I hope everyone is enjoying the story! Please review!_


	22. Chapter 22

**Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief**

**Chapter 22**

* * *

_Come on, you're not _that_ tired, are you?_

Daisuke scrunched his eyes shut and rolled over, burrowing under his pillow in fruitless attempt to keep the Phantom Thief from making noise in his head. After a few more minutes, however, the relentless Dark's teasing and cajoling convinced him it was time to get out of bed.

_You're the one who kept us out so late last night,_ Daisuke whined, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He peered around the dormitory, finding it completely empty.

_But you're the one who's going to miss breakfast if you don't hurry, _Dark laughed.

Realizing that Dark might actually be talking some sense, Daisuke shrugged into his clothes and made his way down to the Great Hall. Unlike most mornings, he felt like people actually noticed him when he passed—the other students either smiled encouragingly at him, or watched him suspiciously from side passages as if he were about to pounce on them with a knife.

He sighed. It was all because his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire.

He passed some of the younger Gryffindors on his way in, and they cheered at him excitedly as he passed. A pair of nearby Hufflepuffs glared disapprovingly, and Daisuke turned away, slumping his shoulders as he walked to the Gryffindor table. He didn't really like being the center of attention.

Parvati was waving to him, so he began making his way towards the her and Lavender. He had nearly sat down when a girlish cry from one of the other tables made him freeze. The sound was incredibly familiar. He blinked. But it couldn't be….

"Daisuke!"

He spun around, looking towards the source of the voice. At first, he didn't believe his eyes. A girl with short, red-tinted hair ran towards him with outstretched arms. But when she reached him, he realized that she _must_ be real, that she was really here, safe and sound in his arms again. He hugged her fiercely, nearly swinging her around in his excitement.

"Riku!" he laughed happily, breathing deeply as he pressed his cheek against her ear.

A moment later, he remembered himself and realized how embarrassing the entire display had been. He released her and stepped back, but was still unable to get rid of the happy grin on his face. "What are you doing here?" he asked, blinking incredulously.

A voice from behind him responded. "You could say we came to check up on you."

Daisuke whirled around, his mouth hanging open as Hiwatari raised his hand in a small wave. Behind him was Risa, who pushed past the boy to give Daisuke a hug of her own.

"We've been worried about you, you know," Risa said, pulling back and smiling. "How could we resist coming to see you at your new school?" She gestured to the ceiling, which was swirling with November clouds.

It was like a dream come true, to finally see his friends after worrying about them for so long. He felt like his eyes were drinking them all up, like he had been dying of thirst in the desert and their presences were like water.

_That's a cheesy metaphor,_ Dark laughed, but it was obvious he was also happy to see them alive and unharmed.

Daisuke nodded, a relieved smile on his face. "I'm really glad to see all of you," he said sincerely. He glanced back to the table, realizing that Parvati and Lavender were still sitting there, watching the entire reunion in confusion. He looked back to his old friends. "Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

"Unless you count the toast we had at Durmstrang, no," Riku replied with a half-grin.

_Durmstrang?_ Dark echoed, clearly impressed.

"You can't even call that toast!" Risa said with a grimace. "And my stomach hasn't felt right since that porty-key thing, anyway." She pouted and looked to Hiwatari. "Satoshi," she whined, "get me some cocoa, would you?"

Hiwatari rolled his eyes. "I'm not your boyfriend anymore, Risa. You can get it yourself," he continued off-handedly, even as both Dark and Daisuke spluttered in shock.

"What? You two were a couple?" he asked in complete astonishment as Riku burst out laughing and Hiwatari simply raised an eyebrow with a quiet smile.

"Oh, stop being mean!" the younger twin demanded, pushing out her lower lip. "I was just offering you a chance to be a gentleman!" She huffed and sat down at the table, giving a smile to Parvati as she took the open space next to her.

As they were helping themselves to oatmeal and fruit, Hiwatari suggested Daisuke show them around campus. The rest of the breakfast conversation centered on the food, and Daisuke got the impression that they didn't want to talk about what they had been up to in front of anyone who might happen to walk by in the busy breakfast hall. They rushed through the meal, and were standing up after only a few minutes of sitting. Daisuke hurried to get them all out of earshot so they could get him up to date on their adventures. It was, after all, somewhat lonely out on the grounds by the lake in November.

_Somewhat lonely?_ Dark laughed. _It's cold and wet and there's no one else outside!_

The Phantom Thief was, however, the only one to have any complaints, but the four teenagers huddled together to ward off the chill as Hiwatari began recounting their adventures, his voice joined by interjections from the twins.

Daisuke felt slightly worn out after hearing about Hiwatari's capture at the Berlin Art Museum, his escape to the Harada's, the close call with Krad at the train station, their story of the fiasco at the Louvre, the getaway to Durmstrang Institute, and their scheme to get to Hogwarts. And he had only been _listening_ to the tale. It sounded like his friends had had quite the experience getting from Germany to Hogwarts, and he hoped none of them would have to repeat a similar journey ever again.

_It's a miracle they made it, you know,_ Dark said quietly, and Daisuke could feel the quiet relief that emanated from him. Daisuke felt the same way. Despite being on their own, his three friends had proved their resilience and bravery.

"Well, Dark's returned, at any rate," Daisuke said after Risa had explained how they had been admitted into the Great Hall by a man who, judging by her description, could be none other than Hagrid.

Risa blinked. "Well, we knew _that_, since Satoshi checked on the Black Wings over a month ago."

"No, I mean… he's here right now." The other three stared at him.

Hiwatari shook his head. "Why?" he asked, and Daisuke had the distinct feeling his friend was talking to Dark. "Wouldn't it be better to keep an eye out within the art?"

_You know as well as I do why I did what I did, Daisuke,_ Dark answered seriously. Daisuke nodded, and explained how he and Ginny were attacked, and that Dark's arrival was the only thing that had saved either of them. Riku's worried eyes made him skip over the more frightening moments—he didn't need her feeling upset at how close he had really come to losing himself to Krad.

"But now he says he's stuck," Daisuke said, pointing at his head. "He can't just climb out into the paintings or anything."

"Because your connection with him is too strong," Hiwatari said quietly, pushing up his glasses. Daisuke could feel Dark's assent.

_It's not like it's a bad thing to be connected, Dark,_ Daisuke reminded the Phantom Thief, who responded with an easy laugh. For some reason Daisuke suddenly felt like he was being patronized, but he was distracted by the external world.

"This may be weird, but… he can hear me, right?" Risa began, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Hey, Dark," she said with a small smile. Riku rolled her eyes, and Daisuke felt only slightly uncomfortable. He was certain Dark was grinning.

Yes, chasing skirts and causing trouble were definitely in the Phantom Thief's plans for their stay at Hogwarts. Daisuke tried not to cringe.

Thankfully, Hiwatari cleared up the pause that was rapidly becoming awkward. "Now that we're all here together, we need to be extra careful. Krad will probably come again soon, and we'd better be prepared." His words were careful, and sounded rather like one long sigh.

"A friend of mine here has been helping me learn spells useful for defending against Krad," Daisuke explained. "Ginny Weasely—she's a year younger than us, but really smart and talented." Daisuke suddenly realized that it was his praise of Ginny that had suddenly turned Riku's expression suspicious. She was staring at him with slightly narrowed chocolate eyes, her hair windswept and lighter under the clouded sky. He couldn't help but smile at her, waiting for her to soften her expression.

Slowly, Riku turned her head slightly, smiling and looking down. Daisuke was filled with urge to hold her close and never, ever, _ever_ let her go.

A loud cough from Risa startled him out of his reverie, as did a sudden, teasing laugh from Dark.

"Hey, Satoshi," Risa chirped as Daisuke's face began flushing a deep red. Riku was biting her lower lip, and he could tell she was beginning to feel awkward. "Come back to the castle with me so I can get some juice," she whined, tugging on Hiwatari's thin arm.

Surprisingly, Hiwatari allowed himself to be pulled along, back up towards the castle. "See you later, you two," he called, a slight smile on his lips.

_Well I feel like I could use a walk,_ the thief said cheekily into the silence that followed Risa and Hiwatari's departure. _Looks like I'll be getting one soon, at any rate,_ he continued. _Damn, your girl is pretty._

Daisuke knew it was just one of Dark's ploys to get him to change, but he felt his face heat up regardless. Riku's cheeks started to match his, and she stuttered as her hesitant words came out.

"I…I was so worried about you," she confessed, looking down at her fingernails.

"Well I was worried about you, too," he said sheepishly. "But it turns out you're doing even better than I am." He was beginning to grin like an idiot again. She was so strong!

"But I mean, I-I _did_ break my arm, you know!" she answered, stepping forward and pointing at her left arm, which looked fine.

"But you got it healed, so that makes you even _smarter,"_ Daisuke responded. He took a step forward, and reached out his arms, embracing her carefully at first, and then tightly when she wrapped her arms around him in return. "I don't think I _ever_ want to let you go," he murmured, getting a happy giggle from Riku in return.

"You're so cheesy sometimes, Daisuke," she said, snuggling into his neck. "But I think… that's another thing I like about you."

For the first time since he had left Germany, Daisuke felt completely at home. He was happy, forgetting that Krad was after all of them, content to hold Riku while standing on the quietly lapping shore of the lake, sheltered from the gusts of November wind by pine-scented evergreens. The moment… was perfect.

"Daisuke?" Riku asked, pulling back slightly and looking up into his face. Daisuke could feel himself melting as his gaze lingered in her bright, warm eyes. She closed her eyes then, their lips only a breath apart….

Daisuke suddenly jumped back in alarm. "No—!" Daisuke yelled, his voice cut off as Dark rose to the surface with a gleeful laugh.

Through Dark's amethysts eyes, Daisuke could see Riku's eyes flash open and her gaze land on the Phantom Thief. She looked… confused, and a little angry.

"Sorry, babe," the thief said with a chuckle, striding over to her. He lifted a hand to pat her cheek, and she promptly punched him in the shoulder.

"Hey, hey, take it easy," Dark said, raising his arms to show he meant surrender as he backed off. "It's not _my_ fault, you know."

"Why'd Daisuke turn into you _now?"_ Riku asked, her face set in fierce determination. Daisuke lamented his position—he had been a moment away from their happy reunion kiss!

Dark laughed, though whether it was at Daisuke's imagination or Riku's question, he wasn't sure. "Look, I don't think Daisuke ever brought it up to you, but the reason he turns into me," he said with a roguish grin, "is because he thinks of _you."_ Dark winked, and Daisuke didn't like it.

Riku blinked, and then seemed to be concentrating. She pointed at Dark and set her jaw. "That's not fair, you know!" she yelled.

"I didn't make up the rules, sweetie," Dark said.

"That's so _pervy!"_ the girl cried incredulously. Dark laughed outright at the comment. "I want to talk to Daisuke!" she continued.

Dark smirked, and then put on a mock pout. "Aww, you don't want to hang out with me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "The famous, Phantom Thie—"

"Of course not, you pervert," Riku cut him off, standing her ground and narrowing her eyes. "Was one punch too few for you?"

Dark laughed again. "Alright. Look, you're lucky I got my thieving for the week done last night, because next time this happens I may not be so easily swayed by your threats." He grinned and leaned closer to Riku, his purple bangs sliding around his tanned face. Daisuke could see how her breath quickened and her cheeks flushed.

Wait! That wasn't supposed to happen with Dark! Only Daisuke!

He felt the smirk on Dark's lips, and saw clearly how Riku squeezed her eyes shut.

_Time to go!_ Dark said suddenly, flitting back into the recesses of Daisuke's mind, leaving him standing there, staring at Riku's upturned face…

… and on the receiving end of a resounding slap.

"Ow—hey, _DARK!"_ Daisuke yelped, throwing a hand to his stinging cheek. Dark cackled in his head, and Riku opened her eyes in surprise.

"I-I'm sorry, Daisuke!" she gasped in embarrassment.

"It's okay. I know it was Dark's fault—he's laughing right now," he said with a sigh.

"Pervert," Riku muttered under her breath, taking Daisuke's hand as they began walking back up to the castle.

Daisuke hung his head at the futility of his situation. "He _is,_ isn't he."

* * *

At lunch, Daisuke took the time to properly introduce his old friends to his new ones, hoping that they could all get along. He was especially pleased when Ginny seemed to take a liking to Riku, and vice versa. A small part of him had been worried (since that morning when the idea suddenly hit him) that Riku might be suspicious that his new best friend was a girl who was, in some ways, very much like the elder twin. Ginny, however, made sure to embarrass him fully by imitating his "writing a love letter face."

In fact, the largest barrier to creating friendships appeared to be the language barrier, which wasn't even so much a problem. Though Daisuke suddenly realized why Hiwatari had been exempt from English classes back at Azumano….

"I only lived in London when I was much younger," the boy remarked carefully, "so I'm not really familiar with the city."

"Man, I wish I could travel as much as you have," Dean complained, smearing his potato salad around on his plate.

Ginny laughed. "The only place _I_ ever go is here." She shook her head.

"It's not that I've been on a lot of vacations," Hiwatari said quietly, though no one but Dark seemed to pay any attention to his words because Parvati and Lavender arrived at the table with curious looks directed at the three newcomers. Although they had seen the new trio that morning at breakfast, Daisuke had been too surprised to introduce them.

"Meet Risa and Riku Harada, and Satoshi Hiwatari," Daisuke introduced, gesturing between them. "They're friends from my old school," he explained.

Parvati and Lavender introduced themselves as they took a seat at the table, glancing between each other almost nervously. Lavender whispered something to Parvati, and then helped herself to some potatoes.

"So what brings you to Hogwarts?" Lavender asked.

Hiwatari, Risa, and Riku exchanged glances with each other and Daisuke, none of them sure what to say until Hiwatari replied delicately, "We're touring." He pushed his glasses up his nose and gave both Lavender and Parvati a level look. "We're prospective students, you see."

Parvati turned to Daisuke while Lavender looked down at her potatoes with a rising blush.

"It seems like Hogwarts is loosening its secrecy and privacy lately," the girl said, her brow furrowing as she looked over to Daisuke. "Don't you agree, Daisuke?"

Daisuke swallowed, and then shrugged. "I've only been here two and half months," he replied. "I don't really know."

Parvati smiled cheerfully and laughed. "I guess you're right. Wow, it seems like you've _always_ been at Hogwarts," she continued. "I guess it'd be difficult to imagine school without you, now."

Daisuke smiled back. "It does kind of feel like I've been here for a long time," he agreed, hearing Hiwatari translate his conversation into German for Riku beside him. It felt like it had been so long since he had been home, his thoughts unconcerned with magic, with Riku only a bike ride away….

"School in Germany is different now," Riku said, her German accent still very strong. "Now there is no Daisuke," she explained, engaging Parvati, who smiled politely.

"Though you really fit in here, Daisuke, wouldn't you agree?" Parvati asked, and it took a moment for Daisuke to realize she was talking to him, considering she only glanced at him for a moment and otherwise kept her eyes on Riku.

"Well, sure," he said, thinking about what Dark had said about all his family members going to Hogwarts. Dark, however, started chuckling in the back of him mind.

_Sometimes, Daisuke, it surprises me how you can walk such a fine line without even realizing it,_ the thief teased. Daisuke knew better than to ask what fine line he was walking, seeing as that would only make his alter ego laugh more.

"And Daisuke thought I also would really fit in here," Riku added, tilting her head slightly as she smiled primly at Parvati. "Because we are so close."

Parvati put down her spoon gently. "I'm sure you know that Hogwarts hardly ever takes new students from other schools. Daisuke's the only one I've ever heard of, in fact." She leaned forward over the table towards Riku. "Good luck," she said with an encouraging smile.

_Good lord,_ Dark said with a wry laugh.

"Thank you," Riku said, pausing a moment. Daisuke had the feeling she was planning her next English sentence, and he was proud of her as he remembered how much difficulty he had had when he first arrived in England. But a moment later the past was forgotten as Riku scooted closer to him, leaning her head of silky-smooth hair onto his shoulder. "School here will make our relationship more easy."

Daisuke could feel his cheeks turn a deep crimson as his girlfriend continued leaning happily on his shoulder. Parvati smiled and nodded, looking back down at her food and ignoring a few elbow nudges from Lavender. For some reason, Dark was cheering Riku on between hearty, roguish cackles.

"Excuse me," McGonagall's voice interrupted any further conversation, and Daisuke turned around to see the Head of his house standing over them like a frumpled tabby cat. Riku leaned away immediately, her cheeks turning a slight pink.

Daisuke was about to ask what he had done wrong—having a girl lean on his shoulder couldn't _really _be a crime!—when he realized that the professor wasn't looking at him, but at Hiwatari.

"The Headmaster is asking for the three new arrivals. If you please, I'll escort you to his office straight away," she said.

Hiwatari stood immediately, and Riku shot a glance to Daisuke before slowing rising. He nodded, and then the three of them quietly followed the Deputy Headmistress out of the Great Hall.

_I wonder what the geezer wants,_ Dark mused quietly. All traces of his former mirth had died down and he felt slightly pensive.

_Probably to welcome them?_ Daisuke guessed.

He felt Dark give a mental shrug. _You know, you could actually be right._

* * *

"Daisuke!" Riku called, startling Daisuke out of a pre-dinner daydream (that involved her anyway and was getting rapidly out of hand with Dark's naughty additions). He was hoping she didn't see the way his cheeks were burning.

"R-riku!" he answered, standing suddenly. "How did it go? What did the Headmaster say?" The three Azumano students had been away from lunch to dinner, and Daisuke had been getting a little concerned, left to wonder when his two best friends and his girlfriend would return.

"Well, mostly we sat in a room so Satoshi and the Headmaster could talk, and then we all put on a magic hat, and it told us where we could stay. Your Headmaster is really nice and letting us stay here for as long as we want," she explained. "And you said you were in Gryffin-something-or-other and so am I!" She finished with a triumphant grin and a thumbs up.

_Should she really be allowed in a house she can't pronounce?_ Dark asked wryly, though he was clearly pleased with the situation.

Daisuke couldn't help but smile. "That's great news!" He gave his girlfriend a quick hug. "What about the others?"

"Ravenclaw," Hiwatari said quietly, stepping past him to take a seat at the Ravenclaw table. He ignored Daisuke's yelp of surprise and the way he twisted out of Satoshi's way.

_Creepy kid,_ Dark said sourly as Daisuke relaxed into a normal position. _A Hikari shouldn't be so sneaky._

"And Risa?" he asked, looking for the brunette and not seeing her in the immediate vicinity.

"She's in the one for vain people," Riku laughed, pointing towards the Slytherin table.

Sure enough, there was Risa Harada, sliding into a seat at the far table, batting her lashes at a dark-haired boy at least three years older than her.

"It's not really for vain people…" Daisuke began hesitantly.

"Well it's certainly not the house for smart ones," Hiwatari's voice floated across them lightly. Daisuke could see the faint trace of a smile on his lips as he pushed up his glasses with a finger and helped himself to dinner.

Daisuke stared, and then sighed. "Let's just eat, okay?" He tugged Riku's arm and they sat down. He had a feeling his magical school was about to become far more interesting, and much more comforting.

He held Riku's hand under the table during most of dinner, squeezing it when he felt particularly happy she was there.

* * *

Risa ended up exiting the Great Hall with the Slytherin boy she had sat next to at dinner. Daisuke bid Hiwatari goodnight on a staircase, as the pale-haired boy was led towards the Ravenclaw dormitory by a blonde girl with a faraway look.

He showed Riku to the Gryffindor common room, introduced her to the Fat Lady, and then gave her a book to read while he worked on some of his homework.

He couldn't help glancing up from his Potions reading every so often to look at the way her hair caught in the firelight, how her brow furrowed when she came across something in the book she didn't understand…. It was strange, having Riku there, sitting on one of the chairs by the fire, occasionally distracted as the Weasely twins performed some kind of strange magic in the corner of the room. But it was also comforting, especially when she looked back at him…

…and their eyes met.

"Daaaiiisukeee!" came Ginny's voice, cutting through his serenely blissful mood and causing both him and Riku to suddenly look away from each other.

"W-what is it, Ginny?" he asked as the young witch inhaled deeply and stood before him, hands on her hips.

"I've been thinking that you're still going to need lots of help," the girl said resolutely. "We've been working hard nearly all year, and that seemed to work out okay," she continued, giving him a meaningful stare to show that she was talking about their anti-Krad defenses. "But now that you're a Triwizard champion, we're going to have to step up our game. I mean, technically, you're not supposed to have help, but it can't hurt if I keep helping you in a sort of… general… studying… fashion." It seemed the girl wasn't exactly sure whether her aid might count against them as cheating. She shook her head. "Anyway, I've brought along some materials so you can practice some useful spells."

Daisuke closed the Potions book and nodded. He was getting tired of reading about all the uses of the internal organs of small rodents.

"Excellent," Ginny said, sitting down across from him and slapping a small apple on the low table. "Let's work on Severing Spells. The word is _diffindo!"_ she said, making a small, swift stroke of her wand with the tip pointed at the apple.

There was a pause, and then the apple split apart, the two halves neatly falling to the sides.

"See?" Ginny asked, and Daisuke was terribly impressed. He pulled out his wand and aimed carefully at the apple, not wanting to miss and hit the table instead.

After nearly an hour of practicing while Ginny wrote a Defense Against The Dark Arts paper and gave him comments, Daisuke looked up to see Hermione approach Riku.

"Oh, hello," Hermione said, waving goodnight to Ron as he went up to the boys' dormitory, "you must be one of the new students."

Riku nodded, smiling up at the other girl. "My name is Riku Harada."

Hermione held out her hand. "Hermione Granger," she said while Riku shook the hand. "I hear that you and your sister have both transferred here as of today?"

Riku paused, seemingly digesting the sentence, before answering. "Yes. We are very excited to be here."

"I hear that you're Muggle-born," Hermione continued, and Daisuke winced at the blank look Riku gave the wizarding word. "Me, too." After a moment, Hermione realized Riku wasn't following the conversation, so she explained.

Daisuke went back to trying the Severing Spell, trying to get the third apple cut into smaller and smaller slices. Precision was key, as Ginny had told him.

_There's also a state of mind that makes magic much easier,_ Dark said lazily. _If you think about it, _you're_ what's magic, not the wand._

Daisuke focused on the quarter of an apple that was his target, sharply sweeping the tip of his wand across it while whispering the magic word. The apple fell neatly in two pieces, a drop of juice sliding onto the table where it reflected orange in the firelight.

He nudged Ginny, and pointed, and she nodded and smiled before going back to her essay.

"But how can you stay at Hogwarts if you're not really a witch?" he heard Hermione ask, and immediately his attention was focused back on Riku. It didn't sound like Hermione was giving his girlfriend a hard time—more like she was just curious. But… he wasn't sure what reason Riku might give, and hoped that she didn't say anything about being on the run from scary works of magical art…..

"I already know about magic from Daisuke and… other experiences," Riku explained, moving on quickly so she didn't have to go into detail, "and we were… uhm… asked to, no, _if_ we wanted to learn more. Also, I will be an assistant teacher for some classes."

Hermione looked impressed. "Really? I've never heard of such a thing." She continued rather quickly when she saw that her response made Riku's expression falter slightly. "What I mean is that it's very impressive that Hogwarts invited you."

The two girls smiled at each other, and Daisuke went back to splitting apples. But, by the end of the evening, Riku and Hermione appeared to be friends and Daisuke had not only mastered the Severing Spell but also finished three more chapters of his Potions book and History of Magic essay.

Daisuke rose from his chair with an enormous yawn and a sleepy stretch. There were still a few people left in the common room, but some of them were already asleep over their books or, in one case, a friend's shoulder. He nodded to Ginny, who was packing away her things, and then looked to Riku.

His heart caught in his chest for a moment. She was sleeping, her lips turned into a slight smile and the fading firelight caught in the silky strands of red hair that framed her delicate face. She looked peaceful, and warm.

_Don't ever believe you're not lucky to know a girl like her,_ Dark said seriously, surprising Daisuke with the sudden comment. He closed his eyes and nodded once.

_I know._

He waited until Ginny had left the room and everything else was still and quiet, then leant gently over Riku… knowing he only had a moment for his lips to brush hers… knowing he had only a second for his emotions to touch hers before he was swept under by them…

Knowing she would wake only to the sound of the wind through the open window, Daisuke effortlessly fell deep inside himself as Dark carried them across the midnight rooftops.

* * *

_Author's Note: Your thoughtful reviews are even more appreciated since I'm having trouble with the next few chapters. Thanks, and enjoy~! Lastly, __I hope everyone is getting a chance to enjoy Deathly Hallows Part 1! _


	23. Chapter 23

**Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief**

**Chapter 23**

* * *

The halls and corridors whispered when he walked along them. His footsteps echoed, receding into the empty chambers that thronged the castle.

He wasn't looking for anything in particular, except maybe a place to be alone. Satoshi had some thinking to do, and he preferred to not be disturbed by the curious stares and fearful murmurs from the Hogwarts art while he did so.

He found himself in a windy corridor, a walkway suspended between two towers, with arches open to the air. Far below, the Durmstrang ship lay anchored on the black water of the lake.

Was this place really as safe as Daisuke believed? He shook his head, the wind tousling it further. Their group needed at least _one_ watchful person, and it certainly wasn't going to be Daisuke, Riku, or Risa. It didn't even seem like Dark was worried, which Satoshi found only slightly annoying.

He sighed, and leaned his elbows on the sill of the closest arch. He still hadn't figured out Dumbledore's motives, and it worried him. The old man had easily given in to Satoshi's requests—demands, really—and had happily allowed the twins to stay. It was rather troubling, really, considering they had no magical powers to speak of.

Satoshi knew Dumbledore had only allowed them to stay because that had been Satoshi's condition. That conversation the day before, in the strange office with tingling artifacts and portraits of dead men… Satoshi wasn't sure if he really had made the right decision.

"_I feel responsible for them. The three of us promised to stay together."_ Satoshi had tried to word his lie so it didn't sound like the ultimatum it had been.

The wizened old man had stood, had carefully removed his half moon spectacles, and had slowly walked around the edge of his cluttered desk. _"I see."_ Satoshi hadn't liked the way the wizard's eyes had stared at him as he said the words. He had felt as if the old man was staring at him too deeply, too knowingly._ "Then we shall enroll all of you for this year, if your parents agree."_

Satoshi took a deep breath and brushed some of his hair out of his eyes. The wind was picking up in the lonely corridor. At any rate, he was beginning to understand his value to Dumbledore. He was on his way to learning how much he could get away with.

"_I won't enroll. I already have a degree, as well as a career. And don't bother contacting my parents—they're dead."_

Dumbledore's eyes had widened, and for a moment Satoshi had thought there was a flash of regret and fear in them._ "Please stay."_ The man had been practically begging him to stay at Hogwarts.

And Satoshi had nodded. He wondered if it were for the best. Was this place better or worse than being on their own?

He pulled his robe closer about him, and left the corridor.

* * *

"You are not as bad as we always assumed you'd be," the young dragontamer answered seriously. "I'd have thought for certain you'd be well on your way to madness."

Satoshi nodded, slowly climbing the stairs so Seireth could follow easily through the paintings. It was unusual for art to be so frank with him, and he appreciated it. "Either that or death," he mused.

"You're resilient," she said, gliding around an acrylic tower.

Satoshi gave a short, bitter laugh. "Hardly." He held up the hand that wasn't carrying his paintbrushes, staring at it. "I'm very fragile, actually."

"Maybe," she said, her voice unsure. The dragon flapped and hovered. "Good luck with your research," she said as a parting. He nodded, and pushed open the heavy door to the art room.

He smiled. Students were facing every which way, staring intently at stretched canvases, dabbing and scraping paint. Apparently art classrooms were the same everywhere, magic or no magic. Then again, there had never been any art without magic for a Hikari.

A few students looked up as he entered, all of them at least a head taller than him. It was as the castle's artwork had been telling him—the class was restricted to students in their last two years of instruction. Three of the students, however, ignored him, staying engrossed in their work.

The single adult in the room skirted the palettes of color and stretched canvas on her way to him. She was a tall, thin witch with tight brown curls and sparkling green eyes. Each nail was painted a different color, some of them with patterns that rolled or stretched as she held out her hand to wave to him.

"Are you lost?" she asked. She was probably mistaking him for one of the foreign students.

He shook his head. "No. I'm exactly where I want to be." The witch raised an eyebrow, and Satoshi produced the slip of parchment Dumbledore had given him to make his stay easier. "I have the Headmaster's permission to drop in on any class," he explained, noticing the small jerks of movement from the other students as they listened. He wondered which ones were jealous and which were simply curious.

The art teacher, however, still looked confused. She pressed her lips together in a thin line.

"I'm currently a non-matriculated student at Hogwarts. Special permission from the Headmaster," he said, passing the parchment to her as he stepped past. He glanced at one of the works a student was working on.

On the canvas, an oil-bright day was dawning on the edge of a waterfall. Although the water was rushing and moving, bits of spray occasionally popping out of the stream, Satoshi could tell it was all two-dimensional. The painting oozed a kind of pathetic surface magic. He wondered if the teacher noticed how shallow the work really was.

Moving deeper into the room, he peered over the back of one of the students that had been busy working since his arrival.

A snowcapped mountain cast a long purple shadow on a forested valley. As he watched, a small puff of smoke trailed upwards from the basin of the valley, following the brushstroke of the artist. It continued winding upwards, dissipating as it caught in the high altitude winds. Clearly, there was a small village there, or maybe just a lone campfire.

Satoshi was impressed. The painting reminded him of his early work.

He felt the itch to paint. The tingle that was the Hikari blood flowing through him. He could feel the weight of his own paintbrushes in his left hand, the gentle warmth from within the rolled-up canvas bag. They _wanted_ to be used, to be held in the most skilled hands, and to outdo the other ugly, senseless pieces and artists in the room.

He sighed, walking over to the wall where oil paints stood in a rainbowed row, as if he were at some arts and crafts store. He wasn't sure yet if he'd give in to the temptation, but he pulled a tube of white from the shelf just in case something came up. Painting anything was likely to draw Krad to the area, to alert the monster to his whereabouts, but he wasn't sure he wanted to go stabbing his arm the next time an emergency arose. He tucked the tube into a pocket and turned back towards the room of busily painting students. The real reason he had come to the art room was to make sure nothing dangerous was being created.

Of course, Dark was always on the look for interesting work, but… Satoshi had a better eye for the things that could be used against them. An artist's eye, to be exact.

"Did you want to paint something?" the art teacher asked, stepping up beside him and handing him the paper with Dumbledore's signature. She seemed satisfied by it. "I can give you some canvas if you'd like," she offered, pointing to an empty stool in the corner of the room.

He shook his head. "I was just looking," he said, turning back towards the door. "Maybe some other time." He made his way carefully across the room, glancing once at every work in the room, judging the skill and character of each artist.

He smiled slightly as he put his hand to the door, ignoring the part of him that was a little depressed. No one in the room was anywhere near a true artist's caliber. It was the safest, surest way, and he knew he should be glad. And yet….

Satoshi let the door boom into place behind him, and walked away. It felt sometimes like true art was fading….

He held up one of his own pale, fragile hands.

Like artists were a decaying, slowly dying breed….

* * *

"If it isn't the other Zähmender," a portrait in a top hat called. Satoshi glanced over to the young man in the heavily shadowed canvas. He looked delighted to have caught Satoshi's attention.

"So it is," Satoshi answered dryly. "Did you need something? I'm on my way to the library, actually, so if you just wanted to say hello, the deed is over now and I'll be going."

The portrait raised an eyebrow. "Well, if all of you are like that, it's no wonder you hardly deserve your title."

"I'm not aware of any titles I have," Satoshi replied, feeling slightly insulted.

"Ah, but I just called you by it," the painting retorted.

"Call me whatever you want, then. I don't actually care." He'd been called worse by artwork, anyway. And he had stopped caring what people thought of him a long time ago.

He continued towards the library.

* * *

It was the second day Satoshi had opted to skip dinner in favor of staying in the library when it was actually quiet. He had never had an enormous appetite anyway, and he enjoyed the stillness and the silence of being the only one surrounded by the towers of books.

He yawned, and flipped the page of his current tome, a dusty old thing from the 17th Century called Artistick Propertys and Qualitys, published posthumously by a wizard who had been convinced of his own insanity. His chapter on landscapes talked a lot about living in worlds of his own creation. Satoshi had a feeling that escape into such creations had brought about the demise of the wizard, and the allusions to doing such an experiment with a created utopia were further convincing him that it had been the case.

He set the book aside, and stared at the one underneath it. He decided to save Art With Eyes of Stars by Sylvie Saranti for another day. It was getting late and about time to head back to the Ravenclaw dormitory.

After shelving the books, he headed towards Ravenclaw Tower. The castle was mostly empty as he walked through the stone corridors, and he was entirely alone as he ascended the tightly winding staircase.

He knocked on the wide door at the top of the steps, and then took a step back and waited as the bronze eagle opened its beak. "What is it that if you take away the whole, some remains?" the gently lilting voice of the eagle asked.

Satoshi shook his head. "There's no need to go easy on me," he said with a sigh. "The word 'wholesome.'"

"Well played, and be prepared next time," the bird responded somewhat sourly as the door swung open, revealing the airy, windowed interior of the Ravenclaw common room. Stars glittered in and out of existence behind the swiftly moving gray clouds, both outside the windows and on the painted ceiling. Two older boys were in the corner, a book open between them as they discussed something in low voices. He nodded to them as he made his way across the dark blue carpet, towards the staircase that led to the room he shared with five other boys his own age.

The only problem thus far with Hogwarts was that he had to share personal space with so many people. That, and the constant fear of being attacked by Krad's supporters.

He wondered which members of the student body or faculty were most likely to be in league with Krad's group as he quietly crossed his shared room space and changed into the midnight blue pajamas that had been waiting for him on his first evening in the castle. The other boys were already asleep, or at least near enough to sleep to pretend.

Crawling in bed, Satoshi reasoned that it was probably time he stopped lurking in the library and skulking in the back of classrooms. If he wanted to know who to watch—which enemies he needed to keep closer than his friends—he'd have to actually talk to people.

He sighed and closed his eyes, crushing his ear into his pillow. He would probably need Risa's help.

* * *

"What I mean is that I can't keep an eye on everyone in the school by myself," Satoshi explained to Risa just before breakfast the next morning. "Especially since we're segregated into different houses," he added. She blinked, thought about his words for a moment, and then shrugged.

"Fine, I'll keep any eye out for scary kids who know too much about art. That's the profile, right?" she asked, and Satoshi hesitated.

"You also have to look for friendly people who appear to know very little about art," he said, thinking that the second kind was actually more likely to be the disguise their enemy used.

Risa paused for a moment, and then blinked slowly, almost as if she were resetting her expression. "No problem," she said with a smile, before skipping past him and calling out to a new friend.

He shook his head slightly and then went to the Ravenclaw table as Risa plopped herself down next to a pretty blond boy at the Slytherin table. Satoshi craned his head around, spotting Daisuke entering with Riku, and knew that at least for now, all was well.

He skimmed a copy of Art With Eyes of Stars during his breakfast of toast and cold cereal, ignoring any looks he might have gotten from his fellow Ravenclaws. It was nearly already four days since his arrival, and he was slowly becoming aware of his becoming something of a an enigma to the student body. It probably had something to do with his introverted nature, his unexplained arrival to the school, and his peculiar rights as a non-student student.

He was also, unfortunately, becoming a mysterious magnet for the girls. Despite how undesirable he found the situation.

He breathed out through his nose in exasperation, flipping a page. He was certain that in no time one of them (or perhaps several) would ask him out. He hoped they weren't under the impression he was simply trying to _look_ busy….

After breakfast, instead of retreating to the library, he wandered the corridors, listening to bits and pieces of conversation. If someone was going to discuss Krad, it was unlikely they'd do it in a public corridor, but if they knew something, they might allude to some kind of secret activity….

His efforts, however, were in vain. No one seemed to be talking about anything other than Daisuke or someone named Harry Potter. Everyone was speculating about the upcoming event that featured the Niwa boy, as well as the so-called "champions" from each of the schools. Satoshi couldn't help feel like the title was a little off, if only because no one had won anything yet.

Interestingly enough, however, Daisuke was appearing to be something of a favorite, despite his foreignness. Or perhaps… it was because he was foreign that he was so popular? Something like the novelty effect? Satoshi shook his head and decided to find a more productive way of spending his day. It was perhaps even more disheartening to realize that throughout most of the day, all of his potential subjects were in class, and thus it was impossible to overhear them talking about anything.

He headed towards the library, thinking that at the very least, he might learn something there.

"Still lurking about, young Zähmender," called a work of art, and Satoshi turned to face the wall. It was, as he suspected, the fancy young man in the top hat who had teased him the other day.

"That's one way of putting it," Satoshi replied, trying not to be immediately annoyed.

"Tell me, are you just anti-social? Or does your lurking have a purpose?" the painting asked, his expression suggesting he was slightly amused.

"Why can't I be both?" he said evenly.

"Then what are you lurking for?" the man asked, leaning back slightly.

Satoshi shrugged. "Information." He suddenly furrowed his brow and stared hard at the painting. "You seem like you have eyes and ears," he began slowly. The painting nodded, clearly curious as to the boy's train of thought. "I take it you know of Krad."

It was hardly a question, and it didn't have to be. The painting nodded gravely.

"Can you tell me if there's anyone at this school who might be working with him? I heard he was inside the castle just before I arrived. How exactly did he get it?"

The painting took a moment to think, pulling his hand up to massage his unbearded chin. He opened his mouth, but it was still several seconds until he actually spoke. "I don't know any paintings who would willingly work with the Weiß Schwarze-Flügel, and I know even little about what connections students or staff might have with him." He paused for a long moment, and then his eyes flashed as he smiled at Satoshi. "And as for Krad's entrance into Hogwarts… I haven't been to visit myself, but rumor has it that one of the works in the upper hall was altered just the day before."

"Altered?" Satoshi queried, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sure you can understand… just a speck of paint—doorway in the distance trick—enough to open the painting to the outside," he explained, shaking his head.

Satoshi nodded. It was easy if the artist knew what he was doing, and it really only required a drop of paint. Actually, it didn't even have to be paint, if Satoshi recalled his own desperate actions with a brush, as well as the testimonies from the books he had been reading.

"Thank you," Satoshi said, giving the painting a slight nod. "Let me know if you learn anything else on the matter." He turned to go as the painting returned his polite nod, and then he paused. "What are you called?" he asked suddenly.

"Lord Shelby," he answered, removing his top hat as he bowed. "Or the Portrait of Shelby of Darkensham. Pleased to aid a Zähmender, especially one in need," he finished.

"Do keep me informed, Lord Shelby," Satoshi said quietly, leaving the hallway for the library.

* * *

The moon had risen and Satoshi found himself in the upper hallway by a suit of armor with tarnish on its left shoulder. As usual, he was alone except for the framed faces on the walls.

"It's just up ahead," a maiden said, passing behind a golden frame, disappearing for a few steps, and reappearing from behind a cottage in the next painting. "No one was in the hallway—we were all crowding around the Great Hall to see the visiting students—except for Martha." She paused for a moment, and then whispered loudly. "Martha doesn't like crowds, you see."

Satoshi nodded, not really caring about anyone's personal preferences and instead impatient to hear what had happened. "But who was up here, altering it?"

"As I hear it, it was a young Slytherin," the girl replied, picking up her skirts as she crossed a brook.

Risa's house. That was interesting, and he was glad he had asked her to keep an eye on her housemates.

"Too young, if you understand my meaning," the maiden replied, giving him a long look before passing to the next picture frame.

He shook his head and frowned as he followed her down the hallway. "No, I don't know what you mean."

"Some of us… well, we suspect an Imperius Curse." She whispered the words and then shook her head and covered her mouth. But a moment later, Satoshi's expression must have convinced her to continue. "A curse to control someone," she said, her voice still hushed.

He nodded slowly, wondering if the artwork's hunch was correct. Painting was… not an easy task. Not if one wanted to do it correctly, anyway. It required a certain state of mind, one that would be completely impossible to produce via body-control, and highly unlikely to produce via any kind of mind control he could imagine.

"It's just up there," the maiden said, pointing across the hallway to a wide, watercolor landscape of a beach dotted with scruffy grass and low, fast-moving gray clouds. She shrank back, as if she didn't want to go any closer to the altered artwork. Satoshi didn't blame her. The moonlight filtering through the darkened hallway gave the painting an eerie effect, making the swirling watercolor waves seem even more fantastic, even less linked to a world of concrete physics and logic.

He moved closer, searching the painting for something that didn't belong. The low clouds tumbled along the horizon, the moonlight from reality spilling onto the frothing waves. Satoshi's fingers began to tingle, the blood pulsing electrically in his veins. There, between a wind-swept patch of grass and the frame.

The door.

It appeared as a tiny rectangle near the horizon line, but the hum in his veins told him otherwise. This was powerful art, a connection to a distant place.

He slowly held up a hand to the doorway, keeping only centimeters from the canvas. He wasn't sure he wanted to touch it, for fear of being drawn in, but… where did it lead?

He dropped his hand. No, it was safest to just erase it. No doubt it lead to Krad's lair or something like it, and Satoshi had had enough of that. He pulled his paintbrushes from his pocket, unrolling their canvas covering and smoothing it on the floor. Although using an oil-based paint on a watercolor made his artistic senses recoil, he unscrewed the cap on the white paint he had taken from the art room, and dabbed the tip of one of the brushes to it.

Satoshi took a deep breath and cleared his mind. He looked up at the painting, and then slowly raised the brush. His movements were icily precise, the tip of the brush touching the corner of the door and flowing a hair's breadth downward. A veil, so thin one could see right through it, would cover the door. It was mere gossamer, the threads like a faint whisper that passed right through the body… and ensnared the mind.

He drew the brush back, slowly exhaling a pent-up breath. The veil wavered gently in the wind that raced along the shoreline, and Satoshi felt a rush of satisfaction at his work, at the skill of his brushes and careful hands.

He stared at the tip of his white-tipped brush until he was certain it was only paint again, and then pressed the substance off between a thumb and forefinger. Returning the brush to its proper place and picking up the rest of its companions, he turned gave one last look to his newest creation before turning away.

The maiden was still there, now surrounded by a what appeared to be a few curious friends with wide eyes. One young woman swallowed nervously, tightly gripping the hand of the maiden who had led him there. It wasn't curiosity that gave their eyes that dark, luminous feel. It was… fear.

He felt a small smile spread across his lips and closed his eyes, sighing as he looked up towards the moon. His footsteps echoed as he left the windswept beach behind. The Ravenclaw dormitory was far from this lonely hallway, and he was tired. Painting the soul-ensnaring veil had done all the work he needed to do, and more. He had sealed Krad's entryway into the castle, as planned….

And the eyes of the painted maidens had reminded that, despite everything, he remained one of the cursed Hikari.

* * *

"Hiwatari!"

Satoshi turned around, and caught sight of a head of disheveled red hair. Daisuke jogged up to him, beaming for some reason.

"I feel like I hardly see you at all," the boy complained with a frown. "Even though now we're both at the same school again."

Satoshi shrugged. It hadn't been as if he were avoiding Daisuke. "I've been keeping busy, and you have class."

"Well, I don't have class right now—that was the final bell—and, um," he continued, hesitating for a moment. His voice turned serious as he continued, "There's something I'd like to talk to you about."

Satoshi nodded. There were things he wanted to share with Daisuke and Dark, too.

Daisuke led the way across past the Great Hall and to the small, grassy courtyard near it. The grass was a dead-looking yellow in color, thanks to the season, but it hadn't snowed yet, and the sturdy stone benches appeared dry. Daisuke took a seat on one end, and immediately faced Satoshi, lowering his voice as he spoke.

"Dark and I have been trying to find out how Krad managed to get into Hogwarts the night the foreign students arrived," Daisuke said, his voice barely above a conspiratorial whisper. "And we heard a rumor about someone adding a doorway to a painting—"

Satoshi waved a hand, cutting off the other boy mid-sentence. "In the hallway by the Astronomy Tower. I was there last night," he explained. But Daisuke's reaction, rather than being one of relief, was one of confusion.

The redhead's eyebrows drew together. "By the Astronomy Tower?" he echoed, and then shook his head. "We heard that a painting by the Great Hall had been altered in mid-October," he said, looking more and more concerned with each word.

"But I saw the one in the upper hallway. I was there last night," Satoshi repeated. "I made the portal impossible to use."

"But Dark talked to the Geisha in the Garden two nights ago, and she said that Krad had definitely used the doorway there," Daisuke said. After a pause, he let out a frustrated sigh and scrunched up his face. "Even Krad can't be in two places at once!"

Satoshi nodded. "So then what exactly are we dealing with?" he asked.

Daisuke hung his head, his robes drooping pathetically around his shoulders. "I feel like I'm dealing with _everything_ right now," he said with a sigh. "I mean, there's Krad on top of magical school, and then this tournament thing on top of that!" He bobbed his head from shoulder to shoulder, as if he wanted to shake himself out of his melancholy mood. "It's next week and I have no idea what's going to happen," he moaned.

Satoshi readjusted his glasses, and looked away. "I'm sure you'll be able to handle it just fine," he reassured his friend. "You were chosen as a champion after all, weren't you?"

Daisuke shook his head. "It's not like I asked for all this…" he said, slumping forward and leaning on his arms.

Satoshi couldn't help but smile. His friend was certainly being dramatic.

"Seriously!" Daisuke whined, catching sight of Satoshi's grin. "Professor Moody says that whoever put my and Harry's names in the Goblet of Fire were likely intending to murder us!"

Satoshi's grin abruptly faded. "You mean… you didn't enter into the tournament willingly?" he asked. It was common knowledge that Daisuke and Harry were the Hogwarts improbable dual champions, so he hadn't actually asked Daisuke about entering.

"Of course not," the redhead said quickly, straightening up. "I thought you knew." Satoshi shook his head, and Daisuke continued speaking. "And even though you're only supposed to be able to put your own name in, someone else must have put mine —" he began, suddenly stopping as if he were listening to something. His eyes widened, and Satoshi had the feeling Dark had just had some important insight.

"Actually, it wasn't _my_ name, but… Kokuyoku," Daisuke said slowly, his gaze locking onto Satoshi's blue-eyed one.

And then… it all made sense. Satoshi looked away from his friend, and clenched his fist. "Of course," he hissed, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the dying grass. He glanced back to see Daisuke staring at him in confusion. "Come on, Daisuke, we were just talking about it," he said sternly. "We _know_ who wants to get rid of you, and we _know_ who goes by the name Kokuyoku."

Daisuke blinked.

"And we know who was near the Great Hall that night," Satoshi finished.

"But… I mean, I _saw_ Krad when he was here," Daisuke stammered, and then paused as if listening again.

"It's not that Krad was in two different places at once, and it's not that any of the paintings here were lying."

Daisuke nodded. "We thought we had forced him to run that night," the boy said slowly, "but he just snuck in again, and went to the Goblet of Fire…."

Satoshi returned the nod, and then sighed as he stood. "I'll go find the route that Geisha mentioned, and get rid of it."

Daisuke sighed, then looked up to Satoshi with a sincere smile. "I'm really glad you're here, Hiwatari," the redhead said with a sudden warmth. It caught Satoshi off guard, and his instincts kicked in.

He made a noncommittal noise as he turned away, his need to avoid showing surprise as deep as the shock itself.

"I mean it, Hiwatari," Daisuke continued, the sincerity and kindness in his voice deepening. His voice cut into Satoshi's thoughts, just when he had regained his composure and was about to turn back. But to these words, his reaction was completely different, the impulse he fought was entirely opposite, so he remained completely still, facing away.

"I know, Daisuke." He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, forcing himself to be so still he nearly trembled. "That's why we're friends."

"Right," the boy responded slowly. He was obviously unsure of what was going on in Satoshi's mind.

"See you later," Satoshi said, glancing back from the corner of his eye. Daisuke looked puzzled, standing there at the bench as the wind picked up for a moment, gusting through the courtyard and sending his robes billowing. He watched Satoshi as if there was still something Daisuke wanted to ask him, as if he had left something unsaid but didn't know how to put it into words.

Satoshi walked away, trying to put the image of Daisuke's bright, curious, gentle eyes from his mind.

There were things he could not tell his friend, and never would.

* * *

_Author's Note: Whut? A fast update? Anyway, if you enjoyed your bit of Satoshi, please let me know. If there's something you didn't enjoy, please let me know. Also, I *do* still reply to every signed review and really appreciate hearing from you readers~_


	24. Chapter 24

**Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief**

**Chapter 24**

* * *

Daisuke had been pleased to learn that on top of assisting in Muggle Studies, both Haradas were invited to classes that didn't require wands. So it was with a smile that he walked down to the edge of the forest with Riku and Risa, as a trio between the group of Slytherins and the crowd of Gryffindors.

It was with trepidation, however, that he nervously took the leash for a Blast-Ended Skrewt and tried to tie it around the creature's shiny, shell-like midsection. The skrewt hissed and gurgled at him, and Riku eyed it in alarm. Owing to the fact that she didn't have her own pair of dragonhide gloves, she was fortunately exempt from taking one of the overgrown lobsters for a walk. Risa followed behind a Slytherin boy, squealing when the skrewt blasted off and then finding someone else to trail after as the by fell on his face.

Divination became much more pleasant, as did Herbology. He still had his private lessons and history classes with the other students, but it all seemed much easier when Riku was around. She was enthusiastically interested in his magical studies, got on quite well with Ginny and Hermione, and always had a smile.

_It's cute the way you think she's perfect,_ Dark had commented one day after Daisuke had done a bit of daydreaming in History of Magic with the second year students. Daisuke had immediately blushed and busily copied down notes.

What was impressive about Riku was that she had started helping Hermione with the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, and lots of the portraits seemed really fond of her. She really was good at everything!

Though… as he exited the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and went towards his private lesson with Professor McGonagall, the flash of a lit-up badge caught his eye and he frowned slightly. Things between Riku and her twin had become strained, and the flashing red badge only reminded Daisuke of all the strain that was clouding the school.

_I don't think it's necessary for everyone to take sides like that,_ Daisuke commented as the badge suddenly switched colors to a dark green, the letters swirling and forming five words.

DON'T SUPPORT A HAIRY PLOTTER

_Nothing wrong with some healthy competition,_ Dark replied with a self-satisfied smirk as the badge swapped back to the red message.

SUPPORT DAISUKE NIWA

THE **TRI**WIZARD CHAMPION

_But it's not like Harry put his name in, either,_ Daisuke insisted. _And that's not competition—that's just badmouthing the other contestant._ The badges had first appeared only the day before, and Daisuke could tell that Harry was already having a hard time trying to go to class without calls of "hairy plotter" following him.

_Well, there's nothing wrong with some healthy trash-talk, either,_ the phantom thief contended resolutely.

Daisuke begged to differ. He and Riku didn't really like the practice, and it made things awkward between Gryffindors. It was nearly impossible for him and Harry to be in the common room at the same time, what with their fellow housemates feeling like they had to choose one or the other to talk to, even though Harry and Daisuke still liked each other well enough.

Furthermore, it appeared that the badges had originated in the Slytherin house, and Risa, of all people, wore one. It had caused a minor fight between the twins at lunch when Risa had refused to take it off, citing "everyone else is wearing one" as a good excuse. When pressed, she had even accused Riku of not wanting to openly support Daisuke.

_It's not like that fight is going to mean anything by tomorrow,_ Dark reassured him with a laugh, as if he thought it was funny that Daisuke was so concerned. Daisuke had less easily brushed it aside as he entered the transfiguration room.

By the time Potions with the Slytherins rolled around, Daisuke could only help things weren't too awkward. It being a class that didn't involve wands, both Riku and Risa would be in attendance, as would Harry. Which meant that the Gryffindors would feel the usual conflict of deciding who they preferred to support, and that the Slytherins, for some reason, would do their best to put Harry down. It didn't help that Professor Snape, as head of Slytherin house, was probably having a hard time quelling his students' behavior, behaving impartially, and remaining popular with his house all at the same time. To make matters even _more_ confusing, Hiwatari had stopped him on his way with a cryptic remark to "not give anything away when they asked."

When Professor Snape started class, Hermione still hadn't shown up, and Riku had grown quiet and tense. Draco was grinning like an idiot and whispering to Risa while flashing his "DON'T SUPPORT A HAIRY PLOTTER" badge at Harry.

"Antidotes!" Professor Snape yelled suddenly, startling everyone to attention. "You should all have prepared recipes by now. I want you to brew them carefully, and then, we will be selecting someone on whom to test one…" he continued, trailing off in an almost evil fashion.

Daisuke could hear Harry exhale loudly through his nostrils, and Dark chuckled in a self-important manner. _Ha, I bet we can make one that will even impress Snape,_ the thief said with the same roguish lilt he usually reserved for his late-night escapades.

But a knock on the door halted the proceedings in the classroom, and a small boy's head peeked into the room. Daisuke wondered what Colin, the young Gryffindor he shared one lesson a week with, was doing as the tiny boy went up to Professor Snape's desk and swallowed with large, round eyes.

"Yes?" Snape asked, clearly displeased that his class had been interrupted.

"Please, sir, I'm supposed to take the champions upstairs," Colin said eagerly.

"Both have another hour of Potions to complete," the professor replied, his stare causing Colin's smile to fade away. "They can come upstairs when class is finished."

"Sir—sir, it's Mr. Bagman who said so," he chirped nervously. "All the champions have got to, I think it's for photographs…."

Professor Snape looked as if he didn't care what reason the boy had, but he relented. "Very well, very well. Get going quickly, then," he said coldly, his eyes lingering on Harry as they both packed their ingredients back into their bags.

Daisuke put a hand on Riku's arm for a moment before leaving, and she sent him off with a smile.

Colin seemed entirely too excited to lead him and Harry to wherever it was they were going. He kept up a constant chatter despite the fact that Harry's responses were bordering on the sarcastic.

"Good luck!" called the boy as he deposited them at the correct door and then skipped away alone down the hallway.

Daisuke and Harry shared a long look. At the same time, they both attempted to speak.

"How're you do—"

"It's best not to ask."

With a sigh, Harry knocked on the door and then entered with Daisuke following behind him.

The room had been decorated strangely, with several chairs placed in front of table draped with velvet. It reminded Daisuke of school photos, and he supposed that Colin had been right about the purpose of the meeting. Sure enough, there was a man with a camera among the several figures in the room. Daisuke instantly recognized the ephemerally beautiful champion from Beauxbatons, who was listening to a conversation between Mr. Bagman and a witch with curly hair and obnoxiously scarlet nails. Viktor Krum was staring idly out the window. When Mr. Bagman caught sight of the final two champions, he leapt forward and began shaking their hands vigorously in turn.

"Fantastic! Now we can get right down to it, no problem, it's just the wand weighing ceremony, and the rest of the judges will be here in a jiffy—"

"Wand weighing?" Harry echoed, glancing to Daisuke, who felt even more confused than Harry looked.

"We have to check that your wands are fully functional, as they're your most important tools in the tasks ahead," the man explained. "The expert's upstairs now with Dumbledore. And then there's going to be a little photo shoot. This is Rita Skeeter," he introduced, waving towards the only person in the room Daisuke hadn't recognized. "She's doing a small piece on the tournament for the _Daily Prophet_…"

"Maybe not _that_ small, Ludo," said the witch, eyeing Harry like a piece of meat. It was as this point that Daisuke _really_ began to feel sorry for Harry. The guy couldn't catch a break, could he?

_Poor kid. She looks hungry, too,_ Dark laughed.

"I wonder if I could have a little word with Harry before we start?" Ms. Skeeter asked, still watching Harry like she was ready to pounce. Her voice sounded almost pouty. "The fourth champion, you know…. to add a bit of color?"

_Cougar much?_ The phantom thief was laughing harder, and making it nearly impossible for Daisuke to concentrate on what was going on in the room as Mr. Bagman answered for Harry and the witch nearly dragged the black-haired boy off his feet and through a door.

Daisuke could only blink, and then Fleur stepped towards him. A toss of her silvery blond hair made him realize Harry could easily handle himself so he shouldn't worry. "I 'ear you are from Germany?" she asked, smoothing her "g" into the French pronunciation. He nodded dumbly, forgetting for a moment that Harry even existed.

"I 'ave been zere once. Wiz my muzzer and sister," she continued. "It is… a very beautiful country."

Daisuke nodded again. Dark prodded him to say something back, more or less feeding him the response. "Ah, um, thank you. I wish I could visit France sometime. I've… er, never been."

Fleur graced him with a radiant smile, and he could feel his cheeks start to tinge pink. "Are you nervous for ze first task?" she asked, hooking a shining strand of hair behind a perfect ear.

"Uh…" Daisuke began, dully wondering how he was supposed to have a conversation with her when her beauty made anything but staring at her nearly impossible.

Fortunately, he escaped from having to come up with something (or reply with Dark's response, which was obvious flirtation) because the Headmaster entered the room, accompanied by the Headmasters from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, Mr. Crouch the official, and an old, slightly creepy, wizardly-looking man he didn't recognize.

Mr. Bagman welcomed them heartily, shaking hands with them all except for Mr. Crouch and the man Daisuke didn't recognize.

_It's Ollivander,_ Dark said in response to Daisuke's unspoken question. _He makes wands—including yours._

_Really?_ Daisuke asked, fingering the smooth wood of the wand in his pocket. Dark must have given one of his magical feathers to that man in order to make the wand. When had he done so?

_A while ago, _Dark laughed. _Right after your birthday, in fact. Emiko was so excited, even though you hadn't gotten your letter._

"Come on, come on, sit down over here, and we can get started," Mr. Bagman cried, gently pushing Daisuke towards the chairs with one arm while he gestured to Fleur and Viktor. It felt very much like he was a sheep being herded towards a pen, but Daisuke sat down anyway, looking up towards the camera and Dumbledore, who was frowning at the empty space next to him. Harry's chair.

There was suddenly a muffled yell from the door through which Harry and Ms. Skeeter had exited, which sounded a lot like, "I have _not_ got tears in my eyes!" As Fleur giggled and the foreign Headmasters looked confused, Dumbledore smiled in comprehension and made his way to the door.

"_Dumbledore!"_ said Ms. Skeeter ecstatically, standing up and returning to the room. Harry stumbled out, looking relieved even though a broom came tumbling out with him. Had that woman trapped him in… a _broom closet?_

_Oh, too bad they don't look a little more undressed,_ Dark chuckled roguishly, and Daisuke immediately tried to quell a rising blush. He didn't need to look horribly embarrassed for his photo shoot, and he didn't think that what the Phantom Thief was implying was very appropriate.

_Dark!_ he scolded, looking down as Harry shoved the brooms back in the closet and sat down beside him.

The other officials had taken their seats at the table, and Dumbledore coughed quietly before speaking and taking his seat next to them. "May I introduce Mr. Ollivander?

He will be checking your wands to ensure they are in good condition before the tournament."

Mr. Ollivander, who had been staring out the window in the same way Viktor had been only a few minutes earlier, turned around, his large, luminous blue eyes fixing on Fleur.

"Mademoiselle Delacour, could we have you first, please?" he asked, and the girl obliged, stepping gracefully to the center of the room and passing her wand to the man.

"Hmmm…" he said, carefully inspecting it. He twirled it around, shot a few gold and pink sparks out of the end, and looked at it carefully again. "Yes…" he muttered, more to himself than anyone else, "nine and a half inches…. flexible… rose wood… and containing… dear me…."

"An 'air from ze 'ead of a veela," Fleur supplied with a smile. "One of my grandmuzzer's."

Harry and Daisuke exchanged a look, both feeling relieved that the rumor about her heritage had been true.

"Yes," Mr. Ollivander continued, "yes, I've never used veela hair myself, of course. I find it makes for rather temperamental wands… however, to each his own, and if this suits you…" He paused for a moment, his eyes oddly intent as he rubbed his fingers along the wand. _"Orchideous!"_ he murmured, and Daisuke jumped slightly as a bouquet of wildflowers burst from the tip. "Very well, very well, it's in fine working order." He passed both the flowers and the wand back to Fleur, who floated back to her seat.

"Mr. Krum, if you please."

Viktor stood and passed his wand to Mr. Ollivander, and then stood awkwardly in the center of the room, waiting.

"Hmm," the wandmaker said as he ran his fingers across the wand, holding it close to his wide eyes. "This is a Gregorovitch creation, unless I'm much mistaken? A fine wand-making, though the styling is never quite what I… however…" he said, probably realizing it was best to trail off and not finish that sentence for fear of insulting the champion from Durmstrang. "Yes… hornbeam and dragon heartstring?" he asked, his creepy eyes flicking to Viktor quite suddenly. Viktor nodded. "Rather thicker than one usually sees… quite rigid… ten and a quarter inches… _Avis!"_

There was a popping noise and a flock of tiny, chirping birds exited the wand and flew out the window. Daisuke blinked in awe.

"Mr. Niwa, you're next."

Daisuke shot to his feet, startled to hear his own name called, though realizing he really shouldn't have been. He walked the few steps to the center of the room, wondering what exactly Mr. Ollivander would have to say about his wand.

"Ah, now, this one I remember," the wandmaker said as he caressed the wand and held it up towards his watery-looking eyes and slightly drooping, wrinkled face. "I'd been quite looking forward to your family's continued patronage. Let's see… ten inches… mahogany… rather flexible… with a very unusual core indeed…."

Daisuke was suddenly and fervently hoping that Mr. Ollivander wouldn't give away what the core actually contained. In front of such a high-ranking crowd, well… he couldn't be sure that the stone-faced Mr. Crouch wouldn't arrest him right then and there. He glanced back to see everyone else staring at him, and quickly turned back to his wand.

Mr. Ollivander gave him a very serious look, and said while staring him straight in the eye, "If you please."

Feeling uncomfortable, Daisuke nodded slightly, feeling a odd sort of assent from Dark. The creepy-looking old man smiled, and then raised Daisuke's wand, pointing it towards the window, where one of the birds from Viktor's wand was now perched. _"Duro!"_ he chanted quietly, and the bird immediately hardened into a statue. "Very good," he said, passing the wand back to Daisuke.

Daisuke immediately sat down, glad to be out of the center of the room, and happy that his precious wand was no longer in the hands of such a creepy old man.

_Come on, he's not that creepy,_ Dark said.

"That leaves… Mr. Potter," the man said, and for some reason a hush seemed to fall over the room. In the corner, Ms. Skeeter leaned forward and a quill with a bright plume scribbled furiously on her notepad without her touching it.

Harry stood with a small sigh and handed his wand to Mr. Ollivander. "Aaaah, yes," the man said instantly, holding the wand slightly above his head and turning it carefully in the pale, thin light from the window. "Yes, yes, yes. How well I remember."

Harry fidgeted awkwardly, and Daisuke felt a second burst of pity for his luckless friend.

"Holly… eleven inches…" the man murmured, stroking the wand intensely. "Phoenix feather…" he said, with a peculiar emphasis on the bird. Daisuke felt an odd sense of camaraderie with Harry, seeing as their wands both had feathers inside.

_I'm no phoenix, though,_ Dark laughed.

_Though… it _is_ like you kinda have more than one life,_ the redhead mused thoughtfully.

_Don't expect me to burst into flames,_ the Phantom Thief teased. _I may be hot, but…._

_Oh, stop being so smug!_ Daisuke replied, trying to keep from literally grinning. _Your ego is going to get the better of you one of these days. That is, if it hasn't already!_

_You're just jealous of my good looks,_ the thief responded playfully.

Daisuke supplied the emotion that went with rolling his eyes, even though outwardly his expression didn't change. _As if. I'd like to point out that _I_ have a girlfriend, and you don't._

_Not for lack of willing women, though,_ Dark answered roguishly.

"Very good," Mr. Ollivander said suddenly, after inspecting the wand in absolute silence. "Still in perfect condition." Harry looked enormously relieved as he sat back down next to Daisuke.

_You'd better not go creating a ruckus here at school. People are trying to learn and study,_ Daisuke warned his alter ego lightheartedly.

_Who says I can't teach the ladies a thing or two?_ The thief's tone was downright devilish! Daisuke couldn't help but worry that the latest rumor was going to be one of a mysterious yet dashing amethyst-eyed rogue who appeared only at midnight to woo the prettiest girls.

_That's a pretty good idea, actually,_ Dark intoned seriously. _I could really work with that._

_Dark!_ Daisuke hissed, though in truth, he was enjoying the banter between him and the Phantom Thief.

"Thank you all," Dumbledore said, rising from the table. "You may go back to your lessons now—or perhaps it would be quicker just to go down to dinner, as they are about to end—"

There was the usual scraping of chair legs against the floor as all of the champions stood, Harry practically jumping towards the door, and then the man with the camera leapt out in front, as if he needed to block Harry's desperate escape.

"Photos, Dumbledore, photos!" Mr. Bagman announced, rushing forward and beckoning Ms. Skeeter from the corner.

_No wonder poor Harry wanted to get out of here so badly,_ Dark remarked with delight. Apparently he was incapable of feeling pity.

"All the judges and champions, what do you think, Rita?" Mr. Bagman continued.

"Er—yes, let's do those first," said Ms. Skeeter, her bright eyes fixated on Harry once again. "And then perhaps some individual shots?"

Dark started laughing hysterically, and supplied Daisuke with some unnecessary images about what he thought had happened in the broom closet. Daisuke, horrified, reminded Dark that he didn't want to look like a blushing idiot when his picture was taken, especially when he remembered that the photos were going to be more like videos.

The photographer seemed to have a different idea of the best shot than Ms. Skeeter, who seemed intent to put Harry in the front as if she needed to showcase him. However, the biggest issue was Madame Maxime, who ended up having to sit while everyone else stood, just so her head fit into the picture. In the end, Ms. Skeeter directed their individual shots, surprising the photographer by rushing through Daisuke, Viktor, and Fleur (who seemed to be a favorite for the photographer), while saving Harry for last.

Daisuke worriedly waited for Harry's photoshoot to finish, standing outside the door while Dark laughed and made teasing remarks about Harry and the journalist. Finally, after what was really an unfortunate length of time, the door opened and Harry raced out it, looking quite flustered.

"Hey," Daisuke said, catching up to Harry, who seemed as startled as a rabbit caught in a pair of headlights. Recognizing Daisuke as his fellow Gryffindor and triwizard champion, Harry relaxed slightly and smiled.

"Hey," he replied, settling beside Daisuke as they walked towards the Great Hall together.

"So um… that journalist…" Daisuke began slowly and carefully, grimacing as he looked towards the black-haired boy.

"It's best not to ask," Harry replied, returning the grimace and then laughing.

Daisuke shook his head with a smile. "She seemed… er, really into you," he said with a laugh, and Harry cringed.

"I just hope she doesn't write a whole book about me—you should have seen her quick quotes quill thingy!" he said, eyes wide with incredulity. "She wrote whatever she wanted, and during that so-called 'interview'," he went on, making air quotes with his fingers, "she hardly let me get a word in edgewise!" He shook his head and sighed, staring down as they waited for a staircase to move into place. Green and red light from the badges flashed up at the two of them as a group of Slytherins climbed up from the dungeons. "I hate being famous like this."

Daisuke shrugged, stepping back and looking to Harry, giving him Dark's advice. "It probably won't be much longer than the average fifteen minutes," he said reassuringly.

Instead of looking grateful for the words, Harry stared at him as if a dead badger had suddenly appeared on his face.

"You really have no idea, do you," Harry said in disbelief.

"Wait, do people at this school _always_ make fun of each other like this?" he asked, wondering if perhaps living together, rather than just showing up for classes together everyday, had something to do with it.

"I mean… I've _always_ been famous," Harry said, now sounding quite frustrated. They stepped onto a staircase as it swung into place and began walking down to a landing. "Even before I knew that magic existed, everyone else here knew my name." Harry's voice had turned distinctly bitter. "But it's not like it's my fault or anything. I mean, I can't help what happened when I was a baby!"

Daisuke blinked in confusion. "Er, what happened when you were a baby, again?"

"Voldemort!" Harry spat, skipping the last step before the landing. The portraits cringed at the name, moving back from the boys. "He killed my parents, remember? And everyone thinks I'm special because I survived and he lost his powers."

Daisuke nodded, remembering how Harry had mentioned the incident before, the night they had both learned they were champions. "Well, doesn't it make you at least a little special?" Daisuke asked hesitantly.

"I didn't ask for this," the boy replied darkly, marching down the next flight of stairs.

"Er, no one said you did," Daisuke replied hurriedly, following him.

Harry turned around to give him a flat look. "Actually, that's not true. Everyone thinks I entered on purpose, just to get a bit more fame!"

"Okay, well… I don't."

And at Daisuke's honest words, Harry's shoulders slumped and he sighed. The redhead offered him a smile, and a shrug. "And I think you're liked a lot more than you give yourself credit for," Daisuke continued.

"Er, thanks, Daisuke," Harry said, awkwardly accepting the praise. "It's just been rough lately. Those stupid badges. I wish for once Malfoy would stop singling me out…"

"You mean Draco?" Daisuke asked, suddenly remembering that the blond appeared to be Risa's favorite. Harry nodded. "I think the badges are stupid, too, you know," he said, thinking of the fight between Riku and her sister. He didn't like to think that the twins weren't on good terms with each other. He hoped Hiwatari wasn't wearing one… then again, it didn't seem like the sort of thing his quiet friend would do.

Harry smiled at him, and they arrived together in the Great Hall, finding it easier to ignore the whispers and catcalls from everyone else when they were doing the ignoring together.

"You know… I've been wondering about something," Daisuke said, pausing over his mashed potatoes as Riku arrived with a smile and sat next to him. "Couldn't we work together? I mean, it's the school who wins, right?"

Harry frowned, chewed, and swallowed. "I'm not sure."

Daisuke sat back, poking at the asparagus on his plate and earning a scolding look and a poke from Riku. "Well, seeing as we're both at a disadvantage for being younger than the others and all…."

In his mind, Dark grumbled. _You actually have an advantage, remember? You've got me._

_All the more reason to help Harry!_ Daisuke reasoned.

"But isn't that like… uh… cheating?" Riku asked, pausing to remember the correct English word. Both Daisuke and Harry winced, glancing at each and deciding to drop the subject. It was unfortunate timing on Hermione's part to walk by at that precise moment. Though… as it turned out it was more unfortunate for Harry, as Hermione spent the better part of dinner trying to wriggle the previous topic out of him.

Harry, though, grinned at Daisuke and didn't say a word.

* * *

Daisuke's words to Harry about his popularity proved to be more true than even he had suspected, as a new badge was now being passed around the school.

SUPPORT HARRY POTTER!

The button flashed blue and then swapped to gold for the second message.

A CHAMPION TRIED AND TRUE

HOGWARTS THROUGH AND THROUGH

"Sorry," Ginny said before their History of Magic lesson, when he caught her wearing one. She put it into her bag and shrugged apologetically. "I want to show my spirit and this one's not actually saying anything mean…."

Daisuke sighed and took his seat. "It's okay. I think I prefer those to the other ones, anyway," he said desolately. "And he probably has a better chance, too."

Despite however much Dark convinced him they'd be alright, Daisuke knew that it would mostly be up to _him_ to complete the tasks. It wasn't like he wanted Dark's identity to be revealed to a crowd full of magical people, so he was going to be more or less _forced_ to do it without letting Dark help.

"That's not necessarily true and you know it," Ginny said, hoping to cheer him up as he pulled out his parchment for another boring lesson.

"Uh-huh…" he said, settling his chin onto his desk.

"Anyway, I was wondering the other day if you had your form signed for going to Hogsmeade this weekend," the girl said, changing subjects.

Daisuke lifted his head slightly. "Is that a field trip?" he asked.

She shook her head. "It's for fun. Hogsmeade's a wizarding town not far from here," she explained, and then had to be quiet because Professor Binns had just floated through the blackboard and was now beginning another tedious lecture.

After class, he and Ginny parted outside Professor McGonagall's office, so he could get permission forms. He picked one up for Riku, too, since he hadn't missed Ginny's not-so-subtle hint that it was the only date spot for Hogwarts students.

_But how will I get it signed by the weekend?_ Daisuke lamented, staring down at the parchment where he needed a parent or guardian's signature.

_You have a magical pet, don't you? _Dark asked, his tone suggesting he thought Daisuke stupid.

_Where is Wiz, anyway?_ Daisuke asked, feeling guilty for not asking the question sooner. The last time he had seen his white rabbit had been when he sent him with a reply letter to Hiwatari and the twins….

_Don't worry,_ Dark said easily. _I always know how to find him._ There was a certain warmth in the thief's voice, and Daisuke recognized it as the affection he had for his black wings.

* * *

The rooftops were slick and the footing perilous, and Daisuke felt cheated as Dark ascended the astronomy tower. He had only agreed to let the Phantom Thief take control so they could call Wiz back, and instead they were scampering across shingles and leaping from gargoyle to windswept gargoyle in an icy, late-November rain.

_Complain all you want, Daisuke,_ the thief laughed. _You get your fun, and I get mine!_

With an exuberant cry into the wind and rain, the thief launched himself towards a window ledge, clinging with his fingers and hoisting himself up. He perched there for a moment, leaning against the wet, stained glass, surveying the view.

Dark clouds spiraled across the sky, and lightning flashed in the distance. The rain was relentless, and a harsh wind buffeted Dark's slender form, even though he was out of its main force on the window ledge.

Daisuke could also feel how the water dripped from Dark's purple hair, sliding down his temples and running in rivulets down his slightly bared chest. It was _cold_, but the Phantom Thief didn't seem to care.

With a wild grin splashed across his face, the thief climbed higher, circling the tower as he found tiny footholds and hand holds, as the squeak of his rubber-soled boots was lost in the sound of the wind and rain. The usual exhilaration was coursing through the thief, infecting Daisuke as much as he tried to avoid it.

To fearlessly climb a tower in the dead of night, amid a late autumn storm… _that_ was the reckless ability that allowed Dark to put "Phantom" in front of "Thief." To laugh as the gusts sprayed dark droplets across his face, to climb higher even as thunder rumbled in the surrounding hills….

The tower's peak drifted in and out of sight, piercing the rolling black clouds. Just below it, the wide viewing platform for astronomy students collected rain, as if it were providing some kind of desolate, forsaken landing between earth and heaven.

Dark swung himself over the protective edge of the star-viewing area, sending a splash of cold rainwater into the air as his feet touched flat stone again. The icy chill shot through Daisuke, even though Dark seemed to ignore it.

The thief felt alive, almost electric with a wild, fantastic energy. It would have been creepy, if Daisuke didn't feel a pang of sympathy for him for being so cooped up lately while Daisuke studied and made friends.

Dark entered the tower, effortlessly sliding a feather into the lock and opening the door without even touching it. The wind gusted through the room with them, scattering a few star maps before Dark closed the door and quieted the room. The storm was muffled now, battering lamely against the thick walls of the tower.

Daisuke didn't ask what Dark was looking for—he doubted the thief had anything in mind, especially since he had seemed to have so much fun just climbing the tower in the first place. A moment later, however, Dark picked up a tiny ball that appeared to be made of black glass. It was, however, much heavier than it looked, and when Dark touched it, the globe pulsed slightly.

Tiny pinpricks of light danced across its surface, spun, and then settled, twinkling. Dark smirked, and placed the globe in his pocket. The instant his hand moved away from it, the twinkling lights faded.

Dark put a hand on the door, and then turned back to the room. His roguish grin grew wider, and he held up a feather between his thumb and forefinger. "Good luck!" he shouted, opening the door and letting the wind pluck the feather from his finger, swirling it around the room with the rustling star maps.

Turning into the rain, the thief sprinted across the wet stone, reaching the wall at the far end before the droplets from his first step splashed back down.

_Dark, in this weather you won't be able to—_ Daisuke screamed frantically as they hurtled towards the edge.

Dark jumped up, placing one foot on the low wall surrounding the area. The ripples from his footsteps across the tower widened, mixing with the those pounded in by the rain. His next stride took them from the ledge, diving head-first into the night, drenched by a sea of rain.

_Daaaaaaaaaarrrrrrk! _Daisuke yelled as the wind hurtled past their ears and sent strands of midnight-purple hair whipping across Dark's tanned face. Lightning flashed in the distance, illuminating the shining black roof rushing towards them.

What, was the Phantom Thief trying to kill them? Dark seemed to pay no mind to the speed of their descent or the gusts of wind that rippled through their clothes. He was absolutely crazy, to close his eyes and breathe deeply at a time like this, to smile when they were moments from plunging to their death!

"WIZ!" Dark called suddenly, spreading his arms out and opening his eyes.

Feathers blew across Dark's field of vision as his black wings latched onto a point between his shoulders. They beat once, straining against the wind, and then steadied, pulling Dark and Daisuke out of their dangerous plummet towards the roof of the castle.

"Good to have you," Dark said, rolling in the wind and banking, letting the wind push them wide around the tower. Wiz, of course, didn't reply, and Daisuke was too relieved to do anything other than try to put the incident from his mind.

* * *

Daisuke's nerves increased tremendously as November the 24th and the first task approached. It was one week away, and he still had no idea what he was going to be doing, and Dark's "reassurances" were distinctly unhelpful. To make matters more unbearable, the Phantom Thief had been remarkably smug since the night he had called their white rabbit back.

_In the past, they've had things like jabberwocky slaying, or a running of the abada—those are like small unicorns,_ the thief said cheerfully as Daisuke flopped onto his bed.

_I… don't think I can even _survive_ that!_

_Oh, and once they had the champions create a chimera—I think that's illegal now, though,_ he continued thoughtfully, completely ignoring Daisuke and his suffering nerves.

_Dark, you're making it worse!_ Daisuke whined, blinking furiously to try to focus. He sat up, pulling an envelope from his bedside drawer and holding out one of the strawberries he had nicked from dessert. As expected, Wiz perked up, his tiny black nose sniffing the air cautiously at first, and then more excitedly as he caught sight of the strawberry. Daisuke held it out while the rabbit nibbled at it, hoping that Wiz remembered the instructions he had been drilling into him for the past two nights.

He had to make sure Wiz knew to travel safely back home, and that he needed to make sure that he had the forms signed by his mom and the twins' guardian by the time Dark called him back. Figuring that the twins' family would be worried, he had also asked the girls to send a letter so their family would know they were safe. Hiwatari reminded them not to tell anywhere their location or what they were doing. Which led Risa to write a letter saying that they were staying with Hiwatari's family, since the Harada-Duponts still thought that Hiwatari was her boyfriend.

At any rate, Daisuke didn't want anything bad to happen to Wiz while he was en route to Germany. And it wouldn't do for their permission slips to get stolen, either.

"Now remember, Wiz, you have to get home and get those signed in three days," he informed the rabbit. "_Three days,"_ he repeated, just for good measure. Wiz bobbed his head, and sniffed the air, probably well aware that there was another strawberry around.

_Do you really think he can make it home in that time?_ Daisuke asked Dark, not wanting to strain the cute rabbit. He didn't want Wiz to resent him, either.

_He'll be fine. I bet he could do it in two, even._ Dark's confidence wasn't terribly reassuring, considering that only an hour earlier, he had been convincing Daisuke it would be easy to slay a dragon.

Daisuke exhaled worriedly, and fed Wiz the other strawberry he had sneaked from dinner. The white rabbit made a happy "kyuu" noise and began nibbling on it, his big red eyes shining gratefully up at Daisuke.

"Awww, I can't help but worry!" Daisuke said, snuggling the rabbit into his arms. One of Wiz's ears flopped against his cheek, and he rubbed against it. After a few cuddly moments, however, the rabbit wriggled free and hopped to the foot of the bed. "I guess you're ready to go, huh," Daisuke said with a half smile. He pet the rabbit fondly on the head and picked him up.

With a sigh, he walked towards the window, gently taking the stem from Wiz's little rabbit mouth. "Be a good boy," he called, opening the window and setting Wiz on the ledge. The frosty wind felt like it blew right through his robes.

_He'll be fine,_ Dark said, and this time Daisuke felt slightly reassured. He patted Wiz one last time and the rabbit leapt off the windowsill, disappearing into the first snow flurries of the year.

* * *

_Author's Note: For the line about the dead badger, credit must be given to the anonymous person whose iTunes library was "[name removed] has a dead badger on his face." My hat is off to you, anonymous person, because you have just won at life.  
_

_As usual, comments, criticism, and questions are encouraged!_


	25. Chapter 25

**Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief**

**Chapter 25**

* * *

Snow fell lightly along the trail to Hogsmeade, and continued slowly accumulating on the quirky, slanted rooftops of the village. The sky was a light, even gray, the air chill and slightly damp. The buildings were clustered together, slightly decrepit-looking, but seeming very cozy at the same time with their fogged windows and warm lantern light from within.

"It's very… picturesque out here," Daisuke said thoughtfully in German. Hiwatari gave him a sudden, piercing look, and then one of his characteristically subdued and slow smiles.

"That's exactly what I was thinking, Daisuke," he said, his smile ghosting from his features. Daisuke grinned, and spotted the place Risa said they were looking for.

The four former Azumano students stepped carefully into a place called the Three Broomsticks, and Risa immediately pulled back her fur hood, smiling in excitement. "Ohh, it's like a cute little pub!" she squealed.

Riku rolled her eyes as they walked up to the bar. "Since when are pubs 'cute,' Risa?"

"But I definitely think this one is," the younger twin insisted. Hiwatari, at her side, shrugged helplessly at Daisuke. "Anyway, everyone has to order a _butterbeer_," she continued, naming the drink with good English and pulling her long brown hair from her coat so she could toss it artfully across her back.

"And why is that?" Hiwatari asked, giving the girl a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Because that's what _everyone_ orders here," she replied as if it were a matter of course. "Besides, I think all the other drinks are alcoholic."

Riku laughed, and then the bartender, or whoever she was, appeared in front of them. "And what will it be for you, m'dears?" she asked, her English piercing through their naturally German conversation.

Risa looked at Hiwatari, and he returned a somewhat patronizing smile. A moment later, he looked to the woman behind the bar. "Four butterbeers," he said, and Daisuke thought he could, for the first time, hear how Satoshi's accent was from London. Risa bobbed excitedly.

The woman nodded and turned around for a little while, allowing the four friends to talk in peace. When the butterbeers arrived, they took their seats at a small table in the back of the room, and agreed the warm drinks were delicious. It seemed like it had been a long time since they had gotten a chance to talk to each other all together like this, and if the stories of Risa's escapades were any indication, it _had_ been some time.

Hiwatari had very little to say about living in Ravenclaw House, and although Daisuke had a few stories to share concerning the treatment towards the Triwizard champions (and Harry in particular), Riku knew them all already. So their conversation more or less revolved around Risa (who didn't mind), as she explained all the gossip that occurred in Slytherin House, such as who liked who and who currently wasn't talking to whom, and how so-and-so had done blah-di-blah to such-and-such.

"Risa, how do you even know so many people already?" Riku asked in astonishment when her sister launched into yet another story, this one about a sixth-year from her House who had tried to set her up with a fifth-year Hufflepuff boy who was positively boring.

"I don't know how it is in Gryffindor, but we Slytherins like to talk to each other a lot," Risa said with a shrug and a half-pout. "And besides, I've always been popular."

Riku took a frothy sip of butterbeer and snorted. "Sometimes I can't believe we're related," she laughed.

Risa leaned in, catching Hiwatari's eye before speaking. "Besides, shouldn't we be doing all we can to know what's going on here at school? I mean, we still haven't figured out who's pals with our _friend_ in white," she said in a low voice, holding everyone's gaze for a long moment before leaning back.

Riku frowned, her face puckering in a very cute way. "True, but… I really don't suspect anyone in Gryffindor…." she said slowly, looking to Daisuke for confirmation.

It took him a moment to process her words, seeing as he had been mostly occupied with her adorable expressions and the small line of butterbeer foam on her upper lip. "Uh, right. They all seem nice," he said quickly. He could tell, without looking directly at the boy, that Hiwatari was giving him a flat look, as if he knew Daisuke hadn't really been paying attention.

He looked away, and suddenly noticed Professor Hagrid and Professor Moody entering the Three Broomsticks. Admittedly, it was difficult to _not_ notice Professor Hagrid. He smiled as the teachers passed their table, and saw that they were headed towards Hermione, who was sitting all alone with her S. P. E. W. paraphernalia. He hoped that after hearing Hermione's speech, they too would be interested in Elfish Welfare.

* * *

The next morning was a trying one for Daisuke. He had promised himself he would finish one of the Potions books for Professor Snape, and Ginny had offered to help him with a History of Magic essay they were required to do. To make matters worse, the first task was only two days away, and Daisuke was beginning to feel very anxious.

He tried to stay in bed as long as possible, hoping that he could remain peacefully half-asleep and unworried for a good portion of the day. Wiz cuddled close to his cheek as the dormitory slowly emptied.

Daisuke's peace, however, was shattered when a voice spoke from his bedside.

"Uh… Daisuke?" It was, unmistakably, Harry.

Sitting up and rubbing his eyes, he gave a sleepy look towards the other boy. "Er, yeah?" he asked, yawning as Wiz crawled into his lap and curled back up. Daisuke felt a slight bit of jealousy at his rabbit.

"Well, um… you see," Harry began awkwardly, clearly having woken Daisuke up without knowing what to say. Daisuke waited patiently for a long moment, and just as he was about to flop back into bed, Harry pierced him with a sudden, intense gaze.

"The first task is dragons," the black-haired boy said. He adjusted his glasses as Daisuke blinked.

"Dragons?" Daisuke echoed, dumbstruck. In the back of his mind, Dark was waking up with a catlike grin.

Harry nodded, glancing to the door. "They've got four, one for each of us, and we've got to get past them."

Daisuke was only slightly relived that he didn't have to slay them like Dark had been suggesting for the past week. But only slightly. It was still a _dragon._ He didn't want to mess with one of those, not if they could breathe fire and fly and were as tall as his house!

_How does he know?_ Dark questioned suddenly, his tone suspicious.

"How'd you find out?" Daisuke asked, blinking up at his glasses-clad fellow champion.

"Never mind how," he replied quickly. He shook his head and gave Daisuke a stern look. "But we're not the only ones who know. Fleur and Krum will know by now—Maxime and Karkaroff both saw the dragons too."

Daisuke nodded slowly. "So… you've _seen_ them?" he asked, swallowing nervously as Harry nodded grimly in reply. "Well, um, thanks," he said slowly, as he began imagining being attacked by some kind of vicious black dragon as big as the Beauxbatons carriage, with glowing, crimson eyes, and row upon row of jagged, blood-stained teeth.

"I figured it's not cheating if it makes us all… on even footing," Harry finished lamely, and Daisuke smiled and gave him a short nod.

"I think so, too."

As Harry left, Dark commented on how cheesy the entire exchange had been, and then began terrifying Daisuke with everything he knew about dragons.

* * *

Daisuke knew Harry had been studying nonstop with Hermione since having told him about the dragons. Riku was worried, but more encouraging and enthusiastic than anything else.

At breakfast on Tuesday, the day of the task, Hiwatari slid into the empty space next to him, completely unconcerned with the social breech it was for a Ravenclaw to calmly eat breakfast at the Gryffindor table.

"You're fine, aren't you," the boy said with a mysterious smile.

"Um," Daisuke said, his stomach rolling as he stared down at his oatmeal. It didn't look very appetizing.

"You're used to not knowing exactly what you're up against, though," Hiwatari continued, as if he were blithely unable to read Daisuke's nervousness. He plopped some raisins into his bowl, and pushed up his glasses. "Wouldn't you agree?"

_Ha,_ Dark laughed suddenly. _The Commander thinks he's as tough as a dragon!_

_You mean… this is going to be more difficult that Hiwatari's traps?_ Daisuke asked, trying to not let the hand on his spoon tremble.

Dark paused thoughtfully. _Actually, getting past a dragon is probably easier,_ he said sincerely. _The little Hikari probably has more brains and more tools than a whole flock of dragons._

Hiwatari seemed to be looking at him knowingly, as if he were aware that Daisuke was now having a conversation with his other self.

_Besides, all you really have to do to get past a dragon is be quick and agile enough to dodge the fire and the claws,_ the thief continued, giving Daisuke some reassurance and advice for perhaps the first time. _You're a trained thief, Daisuke. You'll have no problem._

"Good luck," Hiwatari said casually, standing and taking his bowl with him. He glanced to Harry, seated next to Hermione, and then stared carefully at Daisuke. "To the both of you."

Without another word, Hiwatari moved away, his spot almost instantly filled by Ginny, who stared after the quiet, pale boy in confusion. After a small shrug, she waved to Riku and sat down, giving Daisuke a small punch in the shoulder. "Knock 'em dead, Daisuke," she growled, and then began digging into her breakfast.

With a sigh, he allowed Riku to convince him it was best to eat as much as he could.

Two class periods later, he was back in the Great Hall again, and his appetite only felt worse than it had in the morning. Fortunately, he didn't have much time to stare at his food and feel sick, as Professor McGonagall hurried into the hall.

"Potter, Niwa," she called, standing at the far end of the Gryffindor table, "the champions have to come down onto the grounds now…. You have to get ready for the first task." She beckoned them towards her, and Daisuke slowly stood as the echo of Harry's fork clattering across his plate reverberated up and down the long table.

He met Harry's eyes as the two of them reached Professor McGonagall and followed her outside. Harry didn't look as if he knew how he was going to get past a dragon, and Daisuke didn't blame him. Daisuke had been trained in thievery since birth and wasn't terribly confident.

_Trust me,_ Dark said confidently,_ you can sneak past a dragon._

Professor McGonagall led them out to a tent on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and sent them in with a few words of encouragement. Inside, the other two champions were waiting restlessly. Fleur was tapping her fingers against her knee rapidly and incessantly, while Viktor was pacing back and forth. As usual, Mr. Bagman enthusiasm was apparent, but it felt even more out of place in the tent bursting with anxiety.

Daisuke could hardly pay attention as the man launched into another eager speech. How was he supposed to concentrate when he had the feeling that a large, fire-breathing dragon was waiting for him on the other side of the tent?

"Ah, yes… your task is to _collect the golden egg!"_ Mr. Bagman concluded, clapping his hands together jovially.

_Ha, this is going to be too easy. The task is _stealing_, Daisuke!_ Dark laughed confidently. Daisuke swallowed, trying to feel as buoyant as his other self.

Footsteps suddenly thundered around them, as if the entire school was tromping on a grandstand above them, laughing and occasionally cheering excitedly.

_That's exactly what it is, Daisuke,_ Dark told him slowly. _Snap out of it! We've got a job to do!_

Daisuke took a deep breath. Dark was right. He needed to focus! He pressed his hands against his face, covering his cheeks and his eyes, and then pulled them apart. His face was now one of determination, of steely confidence.

_That's the spirit!_ Dark laughed.

Mr. Bagman coughed slightly, giving Daisuke a somewhat alarmed look. "Ladies first," he said, turning to Fleur.

The French girl dropped her hand into the purple pouch Mr. Bagman offered her as the rest of the champions crowded close. After a grimace, she pulled her hand out, opening to reveal a tiny, green dragon.

_I thought they were larger!_ Daisuke cried obstinately. _Dark, you had me all worried!_ In truth, Daisuke realized that he felt more resentment than relief.

_They _are_,_ the Phantom Thief assured him, directing him to keep watching. _Didn't you hear Bagman say that what's in the bag is just a miniature of what's outside?_

Daisuke exhaled in frustration, and then waited as Viktor drew his dragon. It was a fiery red, serpentine creature, with long whiskers and tiny, clawed forelegs.

Finally, Mr. Bagman held the bag in front of Daisuke. He resolutely thrust his hand into the bag, felt the scaly bodies of the last two dragons, and tried to pluck on up as gently as possible. Fishing it successfully out of the bag, he opened his hand to reveal…

… what was quite possibly the most adorable dragon he had ever seen. The little thing was a bluish-gray, with a somewhat ugly, squashed snout. It coughed and a bubble of smoke rose from its nostrils. And… around its neck was a small tag around its neck, as if it were a little gift. Daisuke wondered if he could keep the miniature dragon, and what significance the number "1" had, since it was draped across the dragon's neck.

Beside him, Harry glanced down at his palm, and was rewarded with a black dragon, who immediately bared its fangs and hissed at him. Harry eyed it and its tiny number four grimly.

_Ouch, that's going to be rough for him. See, its got claws on the front _and_ back, _the thief laughed.

Sure enough, upon closer inspection, Daisuke could see that Harry's dragon had a spiked tail along with a clawed and toothed front.

"Well, there you are!" Mr. Bagman proclaimed. "You each have pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to leave you in a moment, because I'm commentating. Mr. Niwa, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right?" Daisuke nodded, hesitantly at first and then with more confidence, so that he ended up nodding for much longer than necessary. "Now… Harry…" the official continued, turning towards the green-looking Gryffindor and lowering his voice. The two walked outside together and Daisuke swallowed, staring at the exit.

_We've got this in the bag, _the Phantom Thief announced with his usual good cheer._ We'll steal the egg and then kick back and watch everyone else. See? You'll get to cheer with Riku like you wanted._

Daisuke swallowed, reassured himself that he was indeed a top-notch thief, and stepped outside.

He was in a pit below grandstands filled with cheering students. In front of him was a dragon. A large, blue-gray dragon, with a scrunched-up snout and long, sharp teeth. It was probably a thousand times larger than the one wriggling in his pocket, and looked much less cute. Though, if he had to describe it, he'd still call it beautiful and incredible. Here he was, staring at a real, live dragon, watched by a crowd of cheering, happy, magical students. He shook his head and focused. He had a task to complete. Nestled at the dragon's right flank was a gleaming, golden egg.

_I guess that's our target, _Dark commented with the roguish glee of a thief about to do a bit of thieving. _Show 'em what you've got, Daisuke!_

_Right,_ the redhead responded resolutely. He concentrated on the egg, thinking of it as his target, imagining sets of Hiwatari's traps laid all around it. If he could get past rows upon rows of security guards and police officers, dodging a dragon should be easy.

_Eyes on the prize,_ Dark laughed. And oddly enough, taking on the dragon reminded him of old times, of breaking into museums while a crowd of fans cheered from the gates. Dark had been right all along—getting past a dragon was going to be easy!

The dragon spotted him and hissed in a deep breath, lunging forward. The crowd gasped and Daisuke jumped to the side, leaping off a nearby craggy wall and landing in a somersault aimed underneath the dragon's neck. He rolled right onto his feet, ducking slightly as he continued moving right past the dragon's front leg.

_Careful!_ Dark warned as the dragon reared up on its hind legs to swipe at him with a clawed front foot. Daisuke dove behind a rock, but was suddenly buffeted by a strong wind.

The dragon rose into the air slightly, beating its wings angrily. It sucked in a large breath.

_Fire, Daisuke! Run! _Dark yelled, noting the way the bluish dragon was opening its mouth to draw in a deeper breath.

Daisuke didn't need to be told twice. He sped away from the dragon, running up a crag and dropping safely behind it as the air above him suddenly blazed with dragonfire. When the fire receded, the air shimmered in the residual heat.

_How do I get closer?_ Daisuke asked, brow furrowing as he peeked around the crag to see the dragon stomp back towards the golden egg and curl up around it. _Should I use some kind of diversion?_

_That sounds like a good idea. Got anything more specific in mind?_ Dark returned lazily.

_Er, no. Unless we can use a feather-explosion?_

He could feel Dark pondering the idea. _It might be too fast. We need something to keep holding its attention for a while._

_It's too dangerous to use Wiz as a double…._

_Damn straight, idiot._

_Maybe I should just dart in and be quick about it? I mean, that's what we usually do, right?_

_If you can do it without getting burned, _Dark teased. _Remember, Riku's watching,_ he finished in a singsong voice. Daisuke wanted to punch his lights out, but he focused on the dragon instead. Just like old times, indeed.

_I'm not sure if I can,_ Daisuke murmured as he continued peering around the rock to check on the dragon's location. There had to be something he could do to confuse or trick the scaled creature, which was now breathing warming flames along the shining egg and its non-shiny brethren. Wait, why was the dragon even guarding the golden one, anyway? The golden oval wasn't even the same size or shape as the other, rounder, purple-speckled ones.

_It's like ducks or chickens, Daisuke—a nesting hen will sit on golf balls if you replace the real eggs,_ the Phantom Thief explained.

_So… she likes children?_ Daisuke asked in wonder. He knew it was unusual for animals to adopt the babies of others.

_No idea,_ Dark replied. The dragon yawned, showing off rows of narrow, sharp teeth.

Daisuke shook his head. He had to focus on the task, and get through with it, not wonder what the habits of dragons were. Unless… _Wait! If we could do something to make her think that there was a hatched baby was somewhere, she'd probably leave the others alone for a moment, right? _he asked his alter-ego suddenly.

_What have you got in mind?_ Dark asked eagerly, apparently liking the idea.

Daisuke held his wand tightly, and aimed at a rock on the far edge of the arena. _Do you know any spells I can use to throw my voice?_ he asked, hoping that Dark had learned a spell like that during his many years at Hogwarts.

_Transvocis,_ Dark replied easily. _It takes some practice to keep it going, so you may only have about ten seconds before it wears off,_ the thief cautioned.

Daisuke smiled. _If it works at all, ten seconds should be about enough._

Still hidden from the mother dragon's view, Daisuke aimed his wand, listening to Dark's instructions so he could correctly cast the spell.

_Imagine that you're going to be literally tossing your voice over there with your wand—yeah, be ready to throw it,_ he said, as Daisuke pulled his arm back as if he were going to throw his wand. _But point instead of actually throwing your wand at it. Ready? On three._

_One… two…_

"_Transvocis!" _Daisuke yelled, feeling the words get pulled from his throat and suddenly echoing from the far side of the arena.

_Ten seconds! _Dark reminded, sounding ready for the action.

_Right,_ Daisuke replied, before yelling at the top of his lungs as he raced around the boulder.

It was the strangest feeling to have hear his own ridiculous baby-dragon noises come from the other side of the arena, even though he was roaring as loud as he could. No sound at all came from his own mouth, and he was otherwise silent as he darted between the craggy outcroppings, keeping an eye on the dragon. He ducked behind another rock, hoping to stay out of her sight until the last possible moment.

The blue-gray short-snout was fixated on Daisuke's strange calls. She leaned away from the clutch of eggs, her bright eyes blinking rapidly as she eyed the rock that was apparently calling to her. Daisuke quietly scaled the side of the rocky wall, peering over the lip as the dragon flicked her tail like a cat getting ready to pounce. He continued roaring in what he thought was the style of a baby dragon, feeling no air come from his own mouth but the strangled cries from across the arena. And suddenly, a gush of wind pushed tiny pebbles and sand through the maze of hiding places, and the arena darkened as the dragon lifted into the air. Daisuke drew closer to the eggs, moving in a silent crouch, hoping she would hurry. He paused to watch her move carefully, only a drop and a short dash from the golden egg.

_You're running out of time!_ Dark called urgently.

"RAAAAAAA—!" Daisuke's dragon-voice yelled until he sharply cut it off, hoping the dragon would fall for the ruse. She immediately drew her wings up and together, thinking that the baby had fallen into some kind of danger.

The moment the dragon dove towards his voice, Daisuke bolted for the egg, leaping off the ledge to roll through the sandy hollow where the eggs lay. He kept his momentum going, diving over the real eggs and scooping up the golden one in the middle of a one-handed handspring. He landed on his feet and bolted around the side of a rock, putting as much distance between himself and the nest as possible.

_The getaway's just as important!_ the Phantom Thief cheered, as Daisuke wall-jumped up a rocky crevasse and nimbly scampered up towards the edge of the arena pit, golden egg in hand. As he heaved himself over the railing, the crowd in the stadium around him erupted into applause, and the amplified voice of Mr. Bagman resounded throughout the entire area.

"Congratulations to Daisuke Niwa of Hogwarts!"

With a _pop_, Professor McGonagall appeared at his side, taking his arm gently. "Let's get you up to Madame Pomfrey, Niwa. Well done, well done," she intoned, gesturing towards the rocky cave he had used to enter the arena. Several wizards ran out, wands drawn and shouting at the confused dragon. He nodded, and hopped off the ledge, making his way back to the entrance while all around him and above him, his classmates cheered.

After getting a quick check-up from Madame Pomfrey, he was allowed to go out into the stands to check his scores and watch the other champions. He pushed his way out of the nurse's tent, golden egg in hand, and looked up towards the judges and their scoreboards, blinking. In fact, there were no scoreboards. Would they simply announce it?

Madame Maxime raised her wand into the air and a long ribbon of silver looped out, forming a nine.

_Not bad, Daisuke_, Dark congratulated.

Mr. Crouch was next, giving him another nine. His score from Mr. Bagman was a seven, from Headmaster Karakaroff it was a five, and from Headmaster Dumbledore he received an eight.

_Are those good scores?_ he asked his alter-ego.

_They're out of ten. We'll have to see how the other champions fare before we figure out who's in the lead,_ came the reply. Daisuke peered down into the arena to see if the second champion had started yet.

It didn't seem so, seeing that his own dragon had only just fallen asleep and her eggs were being loaded into a large, straw-filled box. A few people were busily unloading a second set of eggs into the arena, these ones being a marbly green in color.

Feeling quite proud of himself, he made his way up towards the stands, and was suddenly tackled by a quite familiar, squishy hug that nearly made him drop his egg.

"Oh Dai! You have no idea how proud I am of you right now!" came a voice that, despite the familiar lilt of the German, he hadn't expected.

"Mom?" he gasped in surprise, staring in shock as she released him and planted a wet kiss on his forehead.

"So proud," she repeated, eyes nearly brimming with tears.

"You looked good out there," came a gruffer voice, and Daisuke wrinkled his face into a frown of shock as his grandpa waved at him from a nearby seat. Wiz was sitting comfortably in the old man's lap, trying to sneak a sip from whatever hot beverage his grandpa was enjoying.

"G-grandpa!" he said, gasping for a second time. "What are you doing here?" he asked, looking back and forth between his two relatives.

"Like we wouldn't come to see you compete in the tournament," his mother scolded, raising a finger with her other hand on her hip. "And you didn't even tell us you were participating!" she chastised further. "I'm your mother, and I had to hear the news from your Headmaster!"

Daisuke cringed. With everything that had been going on, he had forgotten to send word about the tournament to his family. He looked at his feet. "I'm sorry, Mom… Grandpa. I've just been so busy this year…" he said, knowing his excuse wasn't really good enough.

"Just keep us informed next time, Dai," his mom said, pulling him into another hug and crushing the golden egg uncomfortably into his chest.

"Looks like they're starting again," his grandpa called, and suddenly a few more bodies appeared next to the old man.

"You did _great,_ Daisuke!" Riku called, standing behind his mother. Risa was beaming from right next to her, giving him two thumbs up.

"I said, it looks like the next contestant is starting," his grandpa remarked again, glancing down and shrugging at Wiz.

With a wide grin, Daisuke sat between Riku and his mom, realizing only after he received a tap on his shoulder that Hiwatari was sitting right behind him with a smile.

_Damn!_ Dark said, unnerved and perturbed even as Daisuke turned back around. _Creepy kid has no right to sneak up on us like that!_

Daisuke ignored him, preferring instead to enjoy the presence of his family and friends as Fleur entered the ring, wand drawn and aimed at the dragon.

"_Condormius inscius!"_ the girl called, her hair fanning out dramatically in the breeze. It still sparkled in the light, but Daisuke found it much easier to ignore her when Riku was holding his hand.

The dragon wobbled slightly, its eyes drooping. Really, the reptiles seemed much smaller when one was up in the stands rather than right in front of them. But, as Daisuke watched, the green dragon yawned, and curled up around the eggs, looking for all the world quite sleepy.

_That's because she used a sleeping charm,_ Dark laughed.

"What's it doing?" Daisuke's mother asked, peering into the stadium while massaging his arm. "I can't tell. Dai, sweetie, what's it doing?"

"Um, she's putting it to sleep," he said, as the dragon settled its head onto the rocky ground and began snoring loudly.

"It's pretty hard to put any spells on dragons, though," his grandpa said conversationally, taking a sip of what smelled like tea.

Dark laughed. _He and I learned that the hard way._

Daisuke was instantly curious, but his attention was diverted as Fleur tiptoed up towards the dragon. His mother harrumphed, probably as if to say that the girl didn't have even the makings of a good thief with sneaking abilities like that.

"You looked much better," Riku assured him, squeezing his hand. And just as Fleur reached for the golden egg, the dragon coughed, snored atrociously, and snorted fire. The French girl yelped as the crowd gasped, and everyone could see that her Beauxbatons skirt had caught fire.

She pointed her wand to it in alarm, watching the dragon carefully as water gushed from her wand tip and put the fire out. She quickly plucked up the egg and then dashed back towards the tent, fleeing as her spell weakened and the dragon began blinking sloppily.

The crowd cheered, and everyone could hear as Madame Maxime yelled, _"Bonne fille! Bien fait!"_

Daisuke clapped along with everyone else, jumping to his feet with Riku and Risa. The dragon handlers entered the arena as the roar of the crowd fell to excited chattering.

In minutes, the next dragon, the beautiful red, Oriental-looking one was ushered into the ring. The dragon was so long it had to twist and coil its snakelike body just so it would fit in the ring.

Fleur's scores were announced in the same manner as Daisuke's had been, and she received 37 as a total, earning a four from Professor Karkaroff and an eight from Mr. Crouch, but nines from both Madame Maxime and Mr. Bagman. Headmaster Dumbledore gave her a seven.

"You're winning!" Daisuke's mother squealed, pulling the twins into a hug.

A whistle blew and the next champion, Durmstrang's Viktor Krum, entered the ring looking slightly angry. Or maybe he was just very determined.

The scarlet-orange dragon raised his head imperiously, staring down at the boy in disdain. It didn't seem to think very much of Viktor, even as the boy raised his wand and aimed at the dragon. In fact, the creature seemed to take offense, hissing and snaking its large, rather square head down back to where Viktor stood.

"_Conjunctivitus!"_ Viktor shouted, and the dragon instantly recoiled, squeezing its eyes shut and thrashing its long tail around. As Viktor rushed forward, the dragon slunk back, hissing in pain.

The crowd gasped and leaned forward as the boy approached the dragon, ducking once under its long, whip-like tail. And then, Daisuke shot onto his feet, aghast as a horrible cracking noise filled the arena, mixing with the dragon's hisses and roars.

She had stepped on a few of her own eggs, blind to where she was going since Viktor's curse, whatever it was—_Conjunctivitus Curse, hurts the eyes_, Dark supplied—had hit her there.

"Oh, the eyes are certainly a dragon's weak spot," Daisuke heard his grandfather say seriously.

And after a few more minutes, during which the dragon skulked in a corner and coiled up as small as it could go, rubbing frantically at its eyes, Viktor pulled his egg from amid the others and jogged back to the tent.

The crowd cheered, even though the applause was somewhat awkward at first, considering how his victory against the dragon had been somewhat anticlimactic and saddeningly one-sided.

Daisuke sat back down, and waited anxiously to see what Harry would do. He hoped that whatever the black-haired boy and Hermione had been working on lately would pay off.

Soon enough, Viktor's score was announced to be forty points and the final whistle blew. Harry walked a few steps out of the tent, looking slightly dazed as the great, black dragon with a spiked tail sniffed the air as if looking for him.

Suddenly, Harry shot his wand straight up into the air—Daisuke was relieved to see he didn't plan to attack the dragon herself—and yelled, _"Accio Firebolt!"_

Daisuke half expected a streak of fiery lightning to crash down and blow the poor dragon to smithereens, given the object of the summoning charm, and was relieved when no such thing happened.

In moments, however, a long, thin object zoomed past one side of the crowd and charged straight towards Harry. It stopped abruptly, and finally, as Harry put one hand on it, Daisuke could see what the object was. A… broomstick?

What good would a broom do Harry when he was facing a dragon?

_You'll see,_ Dark said, clearly interested in whatever Harry was going to do next. And, as it turned out, Daisuke was impressed and surprised as Harry swung a leg over the hovering broom and started soaring through the air.

"Wow!" Riku gasped, standing with many of the other members of the crowd as Harry blasted off towards the clouds.

Moments later, Harry plummeted back towards the earth, swooping past the dragon's claws and dodging with skill that even Dark could appreciate. Harry began bobbing around, just outside the dragon's reach, in the same way a person might tease a kitten with a feather on a string. Harry spiraled upwards, the dragon shooting quick bursts of flame, and then dropped.

The dragon's tail whipped around, snagging him in the shoulder and eliciting worried gasps from the stands. Harry hung on, and then tried to pull the dragon's attention away from the eggs, leading her further and further from her impromptu nest.

The dragon spread her black, leather wings, crouched slightly, and then launched into the air. Harry, however, took the opportunity to dive, speeding right underneath her and collecting the golden egg in one fell swoop.

The crowd erupted into applause and cheers as Harry sped away from the dragon, holding his golden egg proudly.

A minute or so later, Harry received his silvery points. It was forty in all, tying him with Viktor for the lead. Daisuke was only two points behind, with Fleur only a point behind him. It appeared that the tournament was going to be very close indeed, despite the obvious differences in age and knowledge.

_I'm surprised we're not winning,_ Dark complained as they hiked back up to the castle. _I mean, we've got the advantage of age _and_ knowledge, as well as two minds versus the one each of them have._

"I still can't tell you how proud I am," his mother continued, taking his grandpa's arm. "I always knew in my heart you were a champion."

"Thanks, Mom," Daisuke replied, feeling only slightly embarrassed. But he figured that all moms were cheesy, and especially so when their children did something special.

"I bet you'll win," Riku said seriously. "I mean, you're only three points from the lead!"

Risa added her assent, and Daisuke suddenly looked for Hiwatari. His friend was lingering a short distance away, staring across the silver-black expanse of the black lake.

_Leave him,_ Dark said quietly, trying to push Daisuke's attention back on his family and the twins who were talking loudly about each and every move Daisuke had made.

_He likes solitude._

Hiwatari didn't turn towards him, and after a moment Daisuke let his attention be carried away by the people around him. Dark was probably right. Daisuke hurried after his mother, allowing the warmth and affection from his family keep the chill air at bay and to brighten the slowly darkening sky.

* * *

_Author's Note: As usual, please leave a review! I don't know how I'm managing to keep up this streak, but I hope you are all enjoying the flurry of activity!_

_The next chapter is one I've been waiting and wanting to write since _Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief_ began. In the following chapter, Satoshi's task will be revealed. Truths about Dark's past will come to light. And an old tale will be retold._


	26. Chapter 26

**Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief**

**Chapter 26**

* * *

Daisuke had brains enough to play at being a wizarding champion for as long as he liked, but Satoshi couldn't waste the time. He found himself spending long, lonely hours in the library again, only bothered by Viktor Krum and his gaggle of potential girlfriends. When the distraction got to be too much, he took his books back to the Ravenclaw common room and read there.

His quest was still depressingly and maddeningly fruitless. He was no closer to finding out what use Krad might be to Dark wizards than he had been before arriving at Hogwarts, and every time he read some interesting tip about painting, he felt an itch to try it.

Risa had yet to tell him anything important about the student body, and both Daisuke and the other twin were much too concerned with being good students and figuring out the clue to Daisuke's next task. He couldn't help feeling frustrated, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being blocked somehow, that something invisible and intangible was standing between him and his goal.

There were times when he felt close, like when an author referenced another text with carefully vague wording, or when the oldest book on the subject spoke of a family whose name could not be revealed. It was like looking for a pine needle in an avalanche—one would think there would be enough turning up but there was only a vast, empty expanse instead.

He didn't even bother stacking his books and bringing them back to the dormitory when the whispers of Krum's fanclub began echoing through the library. He felt too frustrated, too thwarted to continue, even though it was only just after classes had ended. He felt nearly engulfed by the nagging sensation that he should be doing something else.

It was December already, and Satoshi could only feel that the festive decorations and cheery carols wafting down the halls were trying to mask something deeper, and darker. He couldn't get rid of the feeling that something was wrong.

Perhaps it would be best to leave this place, to take Riku and Risa with him. They might be safer with the Niwa family… and he could go find someplace else to stay…. But something clenched in his gut, almost painfully, as he thought about leaving Daisuke and Dark to face the tournament alone.

He paused in the hallway, stopping to stare out a window at the snowscape before him. Why couldn't he find what he was looking for? The librarian had assured him that Hogwarts held the best collection of magical books in England, and had shown him the row devoted to art, art history, and art techniques.

"So deep in thought, Zähmender?"

Satoshi didn't have to look to know it was Lord Shelby, stalking him and making small talk yet again. He sighed.

"I usually am," he replied, still staring out the window as the light faded. The days were so short now, as they neared the solstice, though the snow did well to reflect the tiny rays of light that filtered through the clouds. "I can't find what I'm looking for," he said slowly, watching as his breath lightly fogged the glass. "In the library."

The patch of fog receded slowly, disappearing before Shelby answered. "You might want to check a different section," he said gravely.

Satoshi peered at the dark, oiled hues of the portrait, catching and holding the bright eyes that flashed from underneath the top hat. "The Restricted Section?" he asked, and the painted man nodded.

"Why is it restricted?" he asked, turning back to the window and watching a pair of figures walk hand in hand through the courtyard.

"Not all book are appropriate for eleven-year-olds, I imagine," Shelby answered, quirking a slight smile as Satoshi looked back towards him. The portrait's expression turned serious. "And I imagine that the subjects you are interested in are not appropriate for eleven-year-olds."

Satoshi nodded slowly, and then turned to go. "Thanks for the advice," he said, heading back to the Ravenclaw common room despite the advice. The library was still too loud, and Satoshi needed time to think.

What, if anything, was holding back his progress? Was it really just that he hadn't been looking in the proper section? Or was it something deeper that that? Something that caused him to uncharacteristically lose his train of thought and consider Daisuke's golden egg….

* * *

It had always been difficult for Satoshi to sleep, and even though Krad now only existed within him as a nightmarish figment of his imagination, he found that he remained restless and alert even in the middle of the night.

The common room was bare at two in the morning, and even the fire had diminished to only darkening embers. The sky had cleared, and Satoshi found himself drawn to the large windows. The moon was bright as it crested above the black, tree-lined horizon. The stars twinkled coldly, mirroring the ceiling of the common room, but lacking the extra swirls and golden sparkles.

It was barren outside. Serene, and delicately desolate. The snow had left the craggy hills smooth, and sparkled dimly under the pale moonlight.

In the snow, the shadows were blue, not gray.

As if the thought had called him, a figure on black wings soared by the window. He didn't pause, or slow down, as if intent on some destination or other. Satoshi stepped forward, pressing his cheek against the icy cold window in an effort to see where the thief was going, but it was too late.

With a sigh, he turned away, the chill from the window lingering on his smooth cheek. He didn't bother rubbing at it, instead taking a seat in the corner. Some of his Housemates had left their books out, and Satoshi was unsurprised to see a copy of the _Quibbler._ He picked it up, realizing that since he hadn't brought any books back from the library, he had nothing better to do.

"Try this instead," came a low, unmistakable voice. Satoshi's senses tingled.

He turned, feeling the chill from the open window as he watched the silhouette of the Phantom Thief draw closer. The firelight gleamed off his eyes, turning the usual amethyst one more shade towards red. He was holding what appeared to be a small book, and from it wafted a strange presence.

"You know better than to give me, of all people, stolen goods," Satoshi answered levelly, standing.

"This one's on loan," Dark replied, meeting Satoshi's gaze. He held the book towards Satoshi, who hesitated, and then reached a hand out to take it. Dark appeared to be immune to the uncannily familiar presence that emanated from the book, or maybe he simply had his guard up already. "Besides," the thief continued, "it was recommended for you by someone else. I just happened to agree that it would be good reading for you."

"Who?" he asked, holding the book up to see its cover reflected in the firelight. The leather-bound pages tingled in his fingers.

"Shelby of Darkensham," the thief answered, just as the light caught the embossed title. The words gleamed golden, the letters fixed brightly in Satoshi's mind.

_Le Prince Artistique._

He frowned, not recognizing the title or the author, one Antoine de Saint-Clair.

"I don't read French," Satoshi said, wondering what Shelby could have had in mind with this. The portrait did nothing but insult or aid him, and he wasn't sure what category this book belonged to. He flipped the book open to somewhere past the title page.

"_Tu sais… quand on est tellement triste on aime les couchers de soleil…"_

The tiny voice of the child sprang from the pages, as did the floating image of a boy, seated in a wooden chair while watching the sun disappear behind the curve of a tiny planet. The flowers on the horizon glittered and shone a deep gold, then blazed orange, melted blood red, darkened to a wine-colored purple, and at last faded into a midnight blue in the space of a few seconds.

The boy scooted his chair forward, sighing softly, as the fantastic, rapid sunset repeated.

"_Le jour des quarante-quatre fois, tu étais donc tellement triste?"_ came another voice, this one richer and fuller, more mysterious and somehow far more powerful than Satoshi had ever dreamed a voice could be. He shut the book, looking up and seeing once more the dimly-lit common room.

Dark's expression, though difficult to see, looked as if he had suddenly recalled something painful and beautiful… as if the voices in the book were lingering in his mind as they were in Satoshi's.

"Just… read it," Dark said slowly, shaking his head as his expression hardened. The thief turned his back, the next words coming out like an old accusation that had festered before finally healing, one that left an ancient, angry scar. "You should read it, Hikari," Dark said without looking back.

"Then you'll recognize your failure."

Before Satoshi could respond, Dark spread his black wings in a whirlwind of feathers, sending an icy blast of air through the room as he disappeared into the night. The thief hadn't bothered to close the window.

* * *

Even though the book was in French and thus not his forte, Satoshi wasn't sure he wanted either of the twins to read it. The mysterious power it held scared him as much as it fascinated him. There was something about it that was familiar… that gave it a feeling of danger.

After a day of careful thought, he decided it was best not to expose the twins to something like that, and instead borrowed dictionaries from the library. In fact, Satoshi didn't want to expose _anyone_ to the book and so he used his hours of insomnia to carefully read through each page, explore each vivid image, and tremble as he tried to place the powerful voice.

The book had been written nearly three hundred years ago, so it was logically impossible that the voice that emanated from the book was one that he had heard before, unless he had already been introduced to the book. Which, according to his memory, he hadn't. And yet, there was a vaguely familiar lilt to the strange voice, that slightly mocking, half-desperate tone that resonated with something deep within him. The familiarity of it unnerved him.

It was the author's voice, he learned as he struggled through the first pages, which were filled with images of a boa constrictor—one eating a terrified, squeaking rodent, another bulbous around the middle from digesting a whole elephant, and the third bleeding from a cross-sectional cut that showed the that elephant inside its stomach was still intact.

Satoshi persevered night after night, listening to the echoing, slightly muffled voices of those the author called "Others" as well as Antoine de Saint-Clair's own rich timbres. The brilliant images floated past his blue eyes, clinging to his retinas even when he turned to look up a word in the dictionary.

Slowly, gently, eerily, in the starlit hours before each dawn, the plot of the book unfolded.

At the age of six and after the boa constrictors, the Others forced Antoine de Saint-Clair to swear to never paint again. The shadowy, faceless Others adopted him, trying to make him one of them. They occupied his mind with academic pursuits, suffocating his artistic talent and pretending it did not exist. As an adult, Saint-Clair wandered the globe half-mad, searching for something, unconsciously trying to escape the fixed, heavy world of the Others.

He found himself in a desert, a million miles from anyone. And there… he met the Artistic Prince.

"_Draw me a flowerpot,"_ the Prince asked, and instantly Saint-Clair recognized that the boy was not one of the Others. It was difficult for Saint-Clair to go against the training the Others had given him, to see the Artistic Prince as more than a empty-headed boy that had appeared from nowhere. It was difficult for him to resist the Others' world of numbers and molecules and essays and geography.

But he _did_ resist, and Saint-Clair drew again, letting art escape from his meager pen for the first time in years. And so, as thanks for the flowerpot, the Artistic Prince asked to give Saint-Clair a gift in return.

"_My story is fiction,"_ the Prince said, his words echoing as his eyes held Saint-Clair's gaze. _"But it is also Art, and therefore absolutely true."_

Thus, the Artistic Prince began his tale.

The Artistic Prince came from a tiny world, one that included only the necessities for two beings. There, he watched as many sweetly melancholy sunsets as he wished, and cared deeply for a certain Rose.

Rose was beautiful, naïve, fragile, and entirely in love with her Prince. Every day she teased the Artistic Prince and then reminded him that she was unique in all the world. And the Prince cherished her more and more each day. And each day his fear that their time together would end became stronger and stronger.

The Artistic Prince knew that Rose was slowly dying. So he promised he would find her a cure, and that then they would live happily for eternity. But when he left his tiny world behind, he left his Rose behind as well.

Stepping out of the frame of one world and into the frame of another, the Artistic Prince found himself in a vast kingdom. In the center of the kingdom was a king, sitting on a grand throne. But there was nothing else in the kingdom at all, and the king had been given only one desire: to command a subject. With no subjects, the king lamented his fate and ordered the Artistic Prince to stay. But the Prince had within him a dark secret, and it was because of this secret that he was immune to the king's commands. The king's world held no sign of a cure for Rose, so the Artistic Prince departed.

The Artistic Prince stepped out of the frame of one world and into the frame of another, arriving at the house of a very vain man. The man showed the Prince his grand house, his closets full of fine clothes, the large numbers in his bank account, and the trophies he had earned for academic competence. The Prince clapped his hands in congratulations of the man's success, and the man lifted his hat to nod. But it was then that the Artistic Prince could see that the man was hollow on the inside, and not a man at all—only a shell covered in simple vanity. He knew he would find no cure there.

Once again, the Artistic Prince stepped out of the frame of one world and into the frame of another, this time meeting a man with a glass of a pungent-smelling liquid. The man offered the liquid to the Prince, telling him that it could make a person into whatever they wished to be. But the Prince understood his dark secret, and knew that if he but touched the liquid, he would cease to be all that he was. So the Prince stepped out of the frame of that world, leaving the man and the drink behind.

Stepping into the frame of another world, the Artistic Prince met a businessman at a large desk strewn with papers. As the man counted and recounted the papers, he told the Prince that the papers catalogued the artifacts in the museums of the world. When the Prince asked the businessman if he owned any cures for his dying Rose, the man said he didn't know—he only knew how _many_ things he owned, and was blind to their properties. Seeing that this man could not understand the value of his Rose, the Artistic Prince left.

He stepped out of the frame of one world and into the frame of another, this one as dark as night. A flame suddenly pierced the darkness, and the Artistic Prince perceived a man with a smoking match and a lit candle. The man sobbed when he saw the Artistic Prince, and begged for the Prince to take him away, blowing out the candle and then crying in the darkness. The Prince asked why the man wanted to leave, and the man explained that he had been part of an experiment, that he had been commissioned to eternally light and extinguish a candle. But when the Prince went to take the man's hand, the small light from the match illuminated the heavy chains imprisoning him. But the Artistic Prince was too afraid to use his dark secret to save the man, so he ran away, leaving the echoing screams and sobs behind.

The Artistic Prince stepped out of the frame of one world and into the frame of another, this time finding a small girl peaking out from the top of a giant tulip. She told the Prince that he might find a cure in the Others' world, for that was where all things originated.

"_Take no heed of the flowers,"_ the girl told the Artistic Prince with a small, sad smile.

"_But why!"_ replied the Artistic Prince, thinking of the dying Rose he had left behind, _"Those are the prettiest!"_

"_Because flowers do not last forever."_

And with those discomforting words of parting, the Artistic Prince stepped outside the frame of that world, and did not step back into another.

The Artistic Prince had not seen the world of the Others for a very long time. So long, in fact, that he had forgotten nearly everything about it and the beings that inhabited it. But on his first day in the Others' world, the Artistic Prince met three Others.

The first appeared to be nothing more than a flash of gold, but this was in fact the Snake.

The Prince recounted his troubles with Rose to the Snake, who smiled. _"You move me to pity—" _began the Snake, and Satoshi dropped the book as if it were on fire.

That was… that was….

Trembling violently, Satoshi stared wildly around the common room. His eyes darted across the room's flickering light, searching for anything—a figure? A feather? A glimmer of gold?—but finding nothing. His feet took him backwards, away from the chair and the book and the embers of the fire. But there was nothing there, and he was safe—there was no specter in the shadows. No one was outside the window. He was alone. He was safe.

Adrenaline was still coursing through his veins, even as he tried to console himself. It was a book, just a book. He held his hand up towards the fire, watching it carefully until it ceased to shake. It was just a voice in a book. His breathing slowly calmed.

That voice… was Krad's.

But _why?_

What was the story about, anyway? Who was the Artistic Prince, and what was the importance of the story? Who was Rose? Who were the king, the man with the magic elixir, the businessman, and the man in chains? What kind of people were these Others? Satoshi was full of questions that he could not answer, that did not even know where to _begin_ to answer.

"This story is true…" Satoshi mused aloud, his voice still shaking as he echoed the words of the Artistic Prince.

He sat back down, more determined than before. The book's importance had been made absolutely clear. He took a deep breath and picked it up off the floor, opening it to the page he had shied away from.

"_You move me to pity,"_ the Snake—Krad—said, his voice as low and seductive as a murderer, _"you are so weak here. I can help you. I can send you back to whence you came. I can put you beside your Rose."_

"_Oh, thank you,"_ the naïve Prince replied, letting the Snake wrap itself around him.

"_Oh no,"_ said the Snake, twining around the Prince's body and holding him for a long moment. _"The pleasure is mine."_

At this point, Saint-Clair interrupted the Artistic Prince, and wondered if he had not come across this Snake before. Satoshi felt a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach as he sympathized with Saint-Clair. The author remarked how felt as if he had heard the words the Artistic Prince had been given, but then he remembered how living with the Others had driven him mad. Given that he was mad, it seemed likely he was imagining the familiarity.

The second Other the Prince met was Lily, who told him where he could find more Others, but beyond that she could not help him. She did not know of the Rose he spoke of, nor why he was so intent to spend eternity with her.

The third Other was Echo, who guided the Prince towards the cities of the Others. Echo was a simple other, unable to understand the Artistic Prince's love for his Rose or his quest to save her from death. They parted ways when they came to a bustling city.

In the city, the Artistic Prince's thoughts were filled with his Rose. He thought he spied her behind a building, and when he went to check, he found himself faced with a dozen beauties, who were all identical to his Rose.

"_Who are you?"_ the Artistic Prince demanded angrily.

"_We are the Roses,"_ they replied, and the Artistic Prince felt cheated. Here were replicas of his Rose, the one who he had thought to be unique in all the world.

"_I thought myself rich for having something so unique, but I had nothing but a common Rose,"_ the Artistic Prince said to himself, and he wept as he left the city.

It was in the country that the Artistic Prince heard a voice from the hills.

"_Hello,"_ said the low, curious, and clever voice….

Again, Satoshi closed the book firmly, blinking as the vision of the Artistic Prince on the hillside slowly faded and the echoes of the mysterious voice calmed into the silence of the Ravenclaw dormitory. That voice from an unknown source….

This voice had sounded exactly like Dark.

He put the book on the table next to him, setting the dictionary aside as he stood. Restless energy poured through him and he went to the window, staring out at the broad expanse of snow. Of course, there was no sign of the Phantom Thief in reality, no windows blowing open or black feathers drifting down from above.

Satoshi was certain it had been the same voice as the notorious art thief, just as he had heard Krad's—he could recognize them anywhere.

He squeezed his eyes shut, and then pulled his glasses off, massaging the bridge of his nose. Dark must have known that the book contained Krad's voice, or some kind of personification of him. Otherwise he wouldn't have behaved so strangely when he had given Satoshi the book.

"_Then you'll recognize your failure,"_ Dark had said, prefacing the sentence with Satoshi's family's name. What did it _mean?_

How had the Hikaris failed, and why was the book supposed to help? He was having trouble concentrating and finding a single answer when there were so many questions bubbling up inside him. He took a deep breath and turned away from the frost-dottted window, putting his glasses back on and returning to his seat by the fire.

He should begin with Saint-Clair. The man was, after all, the author. Anything about his real life might lead Satoshi to clues about what the story was really about.

* * *

Breakfast was planned to be a decidedly hurried affair. Satoshi pushed the shapeless, tasteless oatmeal into his mouth, considering the section of the library that would finally give him the results he desired.

"Earth to Hiwatari!" The sharp voice was accompanied by a smack to his already strained brain, and he looked up to see a slightly perturbed Riku Harada.

"I don't really believe it was necessary to hit me," he replied quietly, placing his spoon on the table.

"Well, you weren't paying attention to me when I called your name, so I figured this would have to do," she retorted, folding her arms across her chest with a scowl.

They stared at each other for a long moment, almost as if sizing each other up.

"What did you need, Riku?" he asked finally, allowing his annoyance to creep into his voice.

She opened her mouth, then scrunched it shut, and then leaned down next to him. "It's about Daisuke… well… really it's about _you_, but I'm more concerned about Daisuke, but…."

Satoshi resisted the urge to roll his eyes as she struggled to find her meaning. She sighed in frustration and plunked herself down on the bench next to him, leaning her back against the table. He caught sight of a real worry in her normally fearless eyes, and decided that whatever she had to say was probably important.

"Why don't you accompany me on my way to the library?" he offered, figuring that she wanted someplace to talk where they wouldn't be overheard. She bobbed her head gratefully, and followed him out of the Great Hall.

Once in an empty hallway, she let out a pent up breath and renewed her struggle of an explanation. "In short, Daisuke's worried about you," she said after a series of failed starts.

Satoshi sent her a puzzled look as they stepped onto a staircase and waited for it to swing. "Why would he be worried about me?" he asked. "I would think he'd be plenty worried about himself. Winter break's not far off, and the second task is just after it."

Riku's somewhat hostile look that meant she agreed. "He's freaking out about keeping up with his classes, let alone trying to figure out the secret to the retarded egg! And on top of that, he's all worried about _you!"_ She gripped the staircase's railing much too tightly as it pivoted. "Seriously, have you looked in a mirror lately?"

The question startled him. "Are you questioning my personal hygiene?" he asked, and then suddenly frowned as he considered her meaning further. "Daisuke's worried about how I _look?"_

"He's not the only one!" she replied, her voice rising slightly. "You look like a ghost! And it's not just how pale you normally are," she continued, stepping off the stairway and practically leading him down the hallway towards the library. The light from the windows was terribly bright, making her somewhat difficult to look at.

"No one ever sees you anymore. You're so quiet, I can't help but wonder if you sneak around on purpose. You've got ugly bags under your eyes. You're skinnier than normal. It looks like you haven't slept in a week! Are you sick? Because if you were, then it'd make sense why you look so awful." She stopped, standing directly in front of him, blocking his path.

"I've been… busy," Satoshi answered, looking towards the bright window, and then looking away because it hurt his eyes. "Tell Daisuke not to worry. I've just got some research I'm in the middle of."

"That book Dark sent you?" she asked levelly.

Again, Satoshi was startled, but this time he hid it by returning her gaze. He hadn't known the thief would blab about the book to either of the twins, but then… he should have known that Daisuke would tell. "It's supposed to be important," he said, shrugging.

"Yeah, well what _is_ it?"

"Daisuke didn't tell you that much? Or…" he said, her wrinkled brow and bitten lower lip giving the answer away. "Daisuke doesn't know either." She nodded.

Satoshi sighed, more in frustration than anything else. The more he read the book, the easier it was to read, so he didn't feel like he needed any help with translation. And he still felt like he didn't want to share it with the twins. And if Dark hadn't explained it to Daisuke….

"Look, I'll help Daisuke with the egg," he said, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he realized what he was saying. It was true that figuring out the secret of the golden egg was going to relieve Daisuke's stress and get Riku off his case, but… he had really planned on leaving it to Daisuke.

Riku paused, and then nodded. "Okay." And the matter was settled.

* * *

"_Hello," _the Artistic Prince replied politely, though he still had no idea where the voice had come from.

"_I am here,"_ said the voice that sounded exactly like Dark.

"_Who are you? You are very pretty…"_

The usual visuals that accompanied the book were absent, and instead there were swirling colors—dark purple, black, and flecks of silver and gold.

"_I am the Fox." _It was Dark, but somehow he sounded… feral.

"_Come play with me. I'm really sad…"_ the Artistic Prince begged, thinking of his Rose and how she wasn't really very special. She had lied to him, and he had come all this way to save her.

"_I cannot play with you,"_ the Fox replied, and from the blackness there was a brief glimmer of sharp, white teeth._ "I have not been tamed."_

"_What does that mean—to tame?"_ the Prince asked, and suddenly he felt queasy and fearful. This blackness, this swirling cloud of nothing he had been suddenly plunged into when he had heard the voice. It was truly a dark, dark….

"_I am not going to play with you,"_ the voice continued, getting louder and louder as the Prince's fear increased._ "I am going to eat you."_

The dark, secret power the Artistic Prince had kept in check for so long… was going to devour him whole.

"_No no!"_ said the Prince, running away. But there was no place to run, and nowhere to hide. The secret—the voice—was _inside_ him.

"_If you do not want to be eaten, then you must tame me,"_ the Fox said, his grin appearing like that of the Cheshire cat. Black feathers gusted by, encasing the Prince in a darkness more absolute than night.

"_How do I tame you?"_ the Prince cried desperately.

The Fox's voice sounded less frightening, almost melancholy as he explained. _"To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a dark, dark secret to be kept locked away._

_But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I will be unique in all the world."_

The darkness had begun to swirl again, signs that light were piercing through. _"I am beginning to understand,"_ the Prince said hesitantly. _"I think… my Rose has tamed me."_

"_There have been stranger things,"_ the Fox replied, and the darkness slowed its awful swirling. There was a long silence and then the Fox continued speaking, his voice slower, more thoughtful. _"I am constantly locked away in darkness. But... if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a voice that is different from all the Others. Your voice will call me, like music, from the darkness. Think how wonderful that will be!_

"_Please, tame me!"_

For the first time, the Artistic Prince beheld the large, amethyst eyes of the Fox. _"I want to, very much. But I have not much time. I must return to my Rose, because it is as you've said: she has tamed me."_

"_If you want a friend, rather than an enemy, you will tame me,"_ the Fox said, licking his lips as his eyes flashed dangerously.

"_What must I do?" _asked the Prince, realizing his life was at stake.

"_Every day, you must spend time with me. You will say nothing, but instead try to feel closer to me. A little bit each day…" _began the Fox.

So every day, the Artistic Prince spent time with the Fox, calling him out of the darkness to enjoy the sun. And in time… the Fox was tamed, and when the Prince decided to go continue the search for the cure for his Rose, the Fox went with him.

For once he was tamed, the Fox gave the Artistic Prince a secret: _"What is essential is invisible to the eyes. One can only see with the heart."_

And because he was essential to the Artistic Prince, the Fox remained invisible to everyone else, and the Artistic Prince could see him only with his heart. And when they passed by dozens of Roses, the Prince rejoiced to know that his alone was special. His Rose had tamed him, just as he had tamed the Fox.

But because of the Fox, the Artistic Prince also realized that it was the time he had spent with his Rose that made her so important. And now… he had spent all this time away from her, worrying about her future, when in fact, the most important thing…

The invisible thing…

The essential thing… was to be with her _now._

And that was when the Artistic Prince had met, in a desert a million miles from anywhere, Antoine de Saint-Clair.

* * *

Satoshi's mind was still somewhere between the magical world of Hogwarts and the one painted by the words of Saint-Clair. But he also felt a strange tug, as if he were being pulled against his will to focus on the stone walls of the old castle and the growing proximity of Daisuke's second task.

He sighed, continuing up the winding staircase to the room where the redhead was waiting. He had a feeling Riku, the enthusiastically athletic girl that she was, had deciding to send him to the top of a tower just to look at the mysterious golden egg. Perhaps it was a hint that he was supposed to be eating more and that he really _was_ in a sorry state of affairs. He leaned against the wall to catch his breath, feeling like the air the filled his chest was the only thing that was even inside him.

Realizing that his thoughts about feeling shell-like were only making him depressed, he continued up the stairs and finally pushed open the door at the top. It creaked loudly, and moments later Daisuke was smiling brightly at him, waving him over with an expression that looked like a mixture between happiness and relief.

"Thanks for coming up here, Hiwatari," Daisuke said, rubbing the back of his neck as if he were embarrassed.

Satoshi shook his head, feeling a smile come to his lips. For some reason, the sight of the golden egg in the center of the room calmed him. There was no one and nothing else in the room but the two of them and the egg, and it gleamed in the thin winter light from the windows.

"It's not a problem," Satoshi answered, approaching the egg. He bent down to look at it, and then picked it up off the floor as Daisuke crouched behind him. "Have you figured anything out yet?" he asked.

"When I open it up, it just screeches," the boy replied hopelessly. "Dark's always laughing at me, probably because he knows the secret." His face turned into a sour pout and he brought his hands up to either side of his head, scrunching them in his spiky hair.

Satoshi gave his friend a bemused smile. "If Dark knows already, then why is he letting you ask me?"

"Uh, well…" Daisuke began, frowning and looking away. "Dark actually… didn't want me to ask you for help."

Satoshi sighed. "That's not very surprising, actually." Dark had never really seemed to like him, probably because he had tried his very best to capture the Phantom Thief, not to mention he had been Krad's tamer….

"He says you're supposed to be reading the book he gave you…." Daisuke's voice was dismal, as if he expected Satoshi to just up and leave now that he was aware of Dark's wishes.

"I _am_ reading it," he replied. "And it's not as if there's something wrong with taking a break," he continued, wondering why he _was_ taking a break. The book fascinated him far more than the silly golden egg. Besides, if Dark knew the secret, why wasn't _he_ helping Daisuke instead?

Daisuke sighed. "Well, do you want to hear what it does?" he asked, holding his hands out for the egg. Satoshi passed it to him with a nod.

Moments later, the most horrible screeching wail filled the room. It was worse than nails on a chalkboard or a foghorn in the ear, and sounded rather like the two of them together with a dying tyrannosaurus rex. Satoshi plugged his ears immediately, but the noise still penetrated past his hands and echoed in his skull in the most nauseating fashion.

"Close it!" he shouted, gesturing with his elbow at the egg. Daisuke looked as if he couldn't actually hear Satoshi's words over the noise, but he was still easily able to comprehend the meaning.

Silence washed over them, and Satoshi shook his head. "It's unlike anything I've ever heard," he said as his ears continued ringing.

"I know. And I can't imagine that there's some kind of clue in this noise…."

"Maybe the noise itself is the clue. Do sound waves have magical properties?" It was something to consider.

"I don't know anything about sound waves at all!" Daisuke replied in concern. "What am I going to do…."

Wasn't spell incantations a form a sound? In that case….

"Aww, come on, you're not helping at all!" Daisuke whined, pushing his palm to his temple. He had his eyes closed and it was obvious he was talking to Dark.

"Daisuke, maybe it means you won't be able to say your spells out loud," Satoshi reasoned, ignoring his friend's outburst.

"Dark says we're in left field," the redhead mumbled sourly.

Satoshi held out his hand and Daisuke placed the egg in it. Perhaps there was some kind of inscription on the outside? But the surface, although it wasn't completely smooth, had nothing in the way of letters, symbols, or pictures. Maybe if he plugged his ears and looked at the inside….

The door swung open, and an ominous-looking, black-haired professor stood in the entryway. He looked… triumphant, then slightly surprised, and finally smug. His eyes had landed on the golden egg immediately.

"And what might you two be doing here? Alone, with the property of a single champion?" he asked, striding towards them so that his long black robes billowed dramatically.

Satoshi and Daisuke stood rapidly. "Well, I _am_ a champion, sir," Daisuke said breathlessly, his German accent more prominent than usual. "So, um, it's my egg."

"Then why is it in your friends' hands, Niwa?" the professor hissed. "That'll be at least 50 points from Gryffindor for cheating, if the Headmaster doesn't find grounds for eliminating you from the competition entirely!"

Daisuke appeared too shocked to respond. Satoshi reasoned, however, that elimination might be their best option. They had enough to worry about already.

"I asked him if I could look at it," Satoshi said, holding up the egg. "It's not really his fault—I've always been stronger and smarter than Daisuke, and I wanted to see if I could figure out the trick to the egg myself."

It was… mostly… a lie. And yet, the excuse was more truth than not.

"I'm not letting you both off so easily," the professor sneered, his eyes lingering on Daisuke. "Both of you will accompany me to the Headmaster's office at this very moment."

Daisuke nodded slowly, staring down at the ground. Satoshi shrugged. "You actually have no jurisdiction over me," he stated calmly, "but I'll accompany you nonetheless." Remembering how much he didn't trust the Headmaster, he figured it was best to not let Daisuke go alone.

The professor's eyes narrowed at him, as if he were trying to give him some kind of threat or warning, and then he turned. Satoshi sighed, handing Daisuke the egg. They followed the professor's billowing black robes down the stairs and towards the Headmaster's office, getting curious looks from the other students as they passed.

* * *

"Ah, yes," Albus Dumbledore said, nodding from behind his large desk. "I understand precisely what you are saying, Professor Snape." The Headmaster sat back, tapping his long fingers together in front of his hooked nose and half-moon glasses. "Accusations of cheating during an international tournament such as this one is should not be made lightly. Getting someone else to do the work set out for the champion goes against the rules, and must be punished." Dumbledore gave Professor Snape a very long stare. "If Mr. Niwa is indeed found guilty of it."

From his position next to Daisuke at the door, Satoshi could not see the expression on the teacher's face, only the rise and fall of his shoulders as he took a deep breath.

"Headmaster, I found the two of them in a tower. It was obvious from the noise that they had been searching for the clue, and the egg was not in Niwa's hands!"

"Yes, you've said as much already," the Headmaster said politely, raising a hand to silence his subordinate. "But let us review the rules of the tournament, and then ask the boys themselves whether they believe they were cheating." Dumbledore motioned Satoshi and Daisuke forward with a finger, and then adjusted his glasses as he looked down at a piece of old parchment.

Standing beside Professor Snape, Satoshi could hear the man's loud, frustrated breath exit his nose every few seconds. But his attention was focused mostly on Dumbledore. Was the man trying to find some loophole so Daisuke could keep competing just because he desired his school's success? Or was he up to something else? Satoshi didn't believe in the man's absent-minded professor routine for one moment.

"Ah, here it is," Dumbledore said with the air of a person who has just found their glasses, which happen to be on the top of their head. The man held up the paper and read clearly, "Any person whose name is chosen by the Goblet of Fire will be known as a champion, and placed into a magical, binding contract, the terms of which are as follows.

"One: champions must participate in the three tasks decided by the tournament committee.

"Two: champions must complete the tasks using their own knowledge, skills, and innate abilities.

"Three: champions will accept the scores of the judges and their final placing.

"Four: champions will not be excused from competition except via death, dismemberment, severe mental instability, or life-threatening illness."

Dumbledore placed the sheet back on his desk, sighed heavily, and then looked back towards the three faces before him. "So it appears even I am unable to excuse anyone from the tournament on the grounds of cheating," he said quietly, and Snape nodded resolutely. He opened his mouth as if to speak more, but was cut off as Dumbledore continued.

"But, there is the matter of the reputation of Hogwarts. I cannot allow non-students to tarnish this institution's reputation during an international tournament. The rules clearly state that you may only participate in the tasks if you are a champion." Dumbledore's keen eyes looked to Daisuke before settling on Satoshi.

"And you are only a champion if your name is chosen by the Goblet of Fire."

Satoshi suddenly drew in a breath. So _that_ was what the man was after! Dumbledore knew very well that the name "Kokuyoku" had been chosen. So he was asking Satoshi to confess? And if he didn't….

If he didn't, Dumbledore was likely to dismiss him from the school. He would be cut off from Daisuke, from Dark, from _Le Prince Artistique_, and from—he realized with a jolt—a tournament that had been distracting his mind all this time, tickling the edges of his consciousness with a desire to adhere to the binding contract of the Triwizard Tournament.

Satoshi's eyes narrowed as he stared at Dumbledore with a look of near contempt. "I have broken no rules," Satoshi told the old man levelly.

Snape sputtered in his peripheral vision. Even Daisuke looked shocked. Only Dumbledore smiled knowingly, but there was a touch of something grave in his face. Perhaps he was finally taking Satoshi seriously?

"And since that is the case, I would appreciate it if you do not waste my time any further. I don't appreciate harassment from your subordinates, and I dislike the thought of it being directed at such a close friend of mine, either." Satoshi maintained an icy disposition. He hated the way the Headmaster had tricked him into given up his secret—the fact that Dumbledore tried to have him say it out loud, in front of a completely uninvolved teacher, irritated him. It was obvious that the man had suspected his true identity all along, but his desire for confirmation was testament to his lack of confidence in his suspicions.

Satoshi hated it. He turned on his heel, letting the surprised face of the Headmaster slip from his vision.

"No…. let him be." The old wizard's soft, defeated voice reached him on his steady walk to the door. He didn't turn around.

* * *

Together, in the desert a million miles from civilization, Saint-Clair and the Artistic Prince searched for water. As night fell, they admired the beauty of the stars, the desert, and each other's hearts. As the Artistic Prince drifted off to sleep, Saint-Clair felt a moment of foreboding.

"_What I see here is but a shell,"_ he murmured, gazing at the sleeping form of the Prince. _"What is essential is invisible…."_

Saint-Clair tried to shake himself of his unease, but found himself continuing to speak, almost against his wishes. _"What moves me so deeply about this sleeping prince is his loyalty to his Rose—she shines through his whole being like a bright flame, even when he is asleep…."_

But Saint-Clair no longer felt that the Artistic Prince was immune to the harsh nature of the Others' world. The Prince felt fragile in his arms, as if he were nothing more than a flickering flame, to be extinguished by the tiniest breath of wind….

At daybreak, they arrived at a well. They drank the water together, and still, even in daylight, Saint-Clair could not shake his dark thoughts. He felt as if something terrible were about to befall the Prince.

The next evening was the anniversary of the Prince's first day in the Others' world. The Prince smiled at Saint-Clair, and suddenly Saint-Clair perceived a great wall separating them.

The wall grew thicker, and it seemed as if the Prince were speaking from across a vast distance. His voice was muffled and far away. Saint-Clair could not tell if the Prince were on top of the great wall, or on the other side. He could no longer see the Prince clearly, and between them, where the impenetrable wall stood… flowed the long, golden form of the Snake.

"_I am going home today."_ The words of the distant Artistic Prince floated over him. Saint-Clair could feel the Snake's smile, but the rest of the conversation was muted. The slightly melancholy smile of the Artistic Prince vanished into a thick haze that glittered like drops of gold.

That night, Saint-Clair did not notice the Artistic Prince's departure. It must have been near midnight when he awoke and began his search for the Prince. He felt disoriented, lost, and not entirely himself.

"_Ah! You are there,"_ the Prince said, taking Saint-Clair by the hand. _"You know I am responsible for my Rose. And she is so weak! She is so naïve! She has no means to protect herself against the all the world."_

Saint-Clair nodded, embracing the Artistic Prince. He wanted to tell the Prince that he should not trust the Snake, but found that he could not speak. The Prince took a step back.

Saint-Clair could not move.

There was a flash of yellow in his vision, a spark of gold. But the arms that reached for the Artistic Prince were not his own. The wall had returned between them, and his arms were those of the golden Snake.

Gently, they settled on the pale, smooth skin of the Artistic Prince's throat. And with greater and greater strength they began to squeeze. As the pressure built, Saint-Clair could feel more and more the rage and jealousy of the Snake.

Rose had threatened the existence of the Fox. In the beginning, the power of her love had allowed the Artistic Prince to subdue his dark secret. The Snake, himself a secret—but one of bright, burning light—came to hate the Rose. The deep crimson of her velvet petals would be most beautiful when scattered across her lonely world.

But it had already been too late. Before the Snake could intervene, the Fox had understood what it was to be loved. The taming had changed the nature of the Fox's very existence.

The Snake could not stand it. Every fiber of his golden, glowing form shone with a deep hatred for humanity. A jealous rage shook him as he considered the Fox, snug and warm with the happiness that filled the Artistic Prince's heart.

And the Artistic Prince's heart grew dark as he struggled, in vain, until the very end.

* * *

Satoshi almost closed the book, feeling drained. He knew in the way that only a Hikari could know that the story had been true. His fingers were still trapped between its covers, and he could feel how near he was to the end. There was only one page left.

It was not nearly enough to provide redemption for Saint-Clair or the Snake. And Satoshi did not expect there to be any. In the same way he knew it had been true, he had also known there would be no redemption from even before he opened the first page with his French-German dictionary beside him.

It was up to three hundred years later, and the guilt still lingered in his blood.

In his veins flowed the regret and horror of an innocent killed, and the shame of a wild animal left untamed. The taste of failure was bitter and heavy on his tongue.

* * *

_**CHAPITRE XXVII**_

_"And now, of course, it has been six years already…. I have never spoken of this story before. The Others were all well pleased just to see me return alive. I was depressed, but I told them: I am tired._

_Now I am slightly consoled. That is to say… not at all. But I know well that he returned to his world, because, when the sun rose, there was nothing—no Prince, no Fox, no Snake. Everything—or nothing—was lost after all… And I love to listen to the colors on the canvas. They are like five hundred million bells…._

_But here something extraordinary remains. When I met the Artistic Prince, I had forgotten the Snake! I never had any way to control him and no way of knowing where he had been. And so I ask myself: 'What happened in that world? Did the Rose bloom and plant a seed…'_

_Sometimes I tell myself: 'Of course! The Prince spent so much time with his Rose, it is obvious they wanted to plant something in that flowerpot…' And so I am happy. And all the colors laugh gently._

_Sometimes I tell myself: 'All it takes is to be distracted one time or another! He left the Rose without a flowerpot during all his travels, and the Snake snuck in without a sound…' And so the bells all change into tears!_

_This is a mystery. For you who also loves the Artistic Prince, like for me, nothing in the universe is the same if somewhere, no one knows where, a seed that we've never seen—yes or no—was it eaten by a Snake?_

_Look at the all the colors. Ask yourself: Did a Snake eat a seed? And you will see everything change…._

_And no Other will ever understand how important this is!_

_This is, for me, the most beautiful and the saddest landscape in the world. It's the same landscape I have drawn before, but I drew it one more time to show you well. It is here that the Artistic Prince first appeared on the earth, and here that he then disappeared._

_Stare at this landscape carefully so that you will recognize it, if you ever journey to the deep desert. And, if you happen to pass by here, I beg you, do not hurry past, wait just a little under the star! And if you see a child coming towards you, if he laughs, if he has hair of brick-red, if he has the heart of a Fox and eyes that see the invisible, then you know full well who he is. And so be gentle. Do not leave me in sorrow: write me, to tell me that he has returned…."_

* * *

farm3. static. flickr. com/2061/2192983998_

* * *

_Author's Note: The above link is the image described. Add the http whatnot and delete the spaces when you put it into your browser.  
_

_Also, I used some French. So for those of you who don't know the language and are dying to know what was said at the beginning…._

These sentences are taken from _Le Petit Prince_ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, in chapter VI and XXVII. The translations are my own.

"_Tu sais… quand on est tellement triste on aime les couchers de soleil…"_

"You know… when you are really sad you like sunsets…"

"_Le jour des quarante-quatre fois, tu étais donc tellement triste?"_

"The day you watched them 44 times, you were truly so sad?"

_"CHAPITRE XXVII"_

Chapter 27

_Also, much much MUCH of this chapter is based on Le Petit Prince. I've adapted the story to give it a pre-Cultural Revolution flavor. Some places I have translated word for word (such as significant portions of "Chapitre XXVII"), and in others I have adjusted drastically, with more other places falling somewhere between those two extremes. If you've never had the pleasure of reading the book, I suggest doing so. You can find it online in English and/or French (and probably any other language) via a Google search. Being a children's book, it is a very quick read—it is probably faster to read that this unfinished fanfiction, and it is, in many ways, a much better read, too._

_Lastly, please leave a review. I worked very hard on this chapter, and I would love to hear your comments._


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